Torun once was a major trade center thanks to its
location by the River Vistula. Many ships passed through its port, bringing
delicacies from different corners of the world. As Torunians developed a good
taste for sweets, they also developed one of the best gingerbread, which is
surrounded by many legends.
The city is also famous for being the
birthplace of Nicolaus Kopernikus, the Father of Astronomy. He believed that
the earth rotated around the sun and during his time it was believed that the
sun rotated around the earth (vice versa). A famous polish saying is “he
stopped the sun and moved the earth.” But this is not our story.
A long time ago, there were many respectable
bakers making gingerbread in Torun, but one of them was the most popular. He
was making the sweetest mouth melting gingerbread, giving it as many shapes as
his imagination would allow him; such as rounds, hearts, stars, flowers. His
most elaborate were in the shape of a carriage drawn by a horse, house,
princess and other folks.
He had only one daughter named Katharina. She
was a quiet girl, who liked spending her time creating new meals. As she made
dinners upstairs at their place, her father baked gingerbread downstairs at the
bakery. The savory aroma from the meal would travel downstairs and the sweet aroma
from the gingerbread would travel upstairs, attracting each other.
It would even travel outside through the
opened windows and doors, attracting neighbors and friends. Many of them were
regular visitors as Katharina was very welcoming and always glad to hear flattery
about her food.
The ideas for new meals were coming faster
than she could make them. And she was making something new almost every day.
Even if it was just a different spice to a meal she already tried. She was
always striving for a better taste. So it was always good to have somebody else
to help them eat with so much food around.
Katharina never really baked with her father,
as none of them liked the other meddling into their creative cooking or baking. But
she was very observant, and from time to time would help to clean some forms or
sweep the floors, if the day was very busy at the bakery. So she knew a thing
or two about baking.
One day the baker got very sick and said to
his daughter “Katharina, you’ve seen me making the gingerbread, why don’t you
make it on your own today. If you need any directions, I’ll be upstairs
resting.”
She started the fire in the oven, got all the
ingredients and proceeded with making the gingerbread. She prepared the dough,
added some honey and was ready to place the dough into the forms, when she
suddenly realized she forgot to pull them from the shelf.
She swiftly went to get them, but they were
not there, “I can’t find them. Daddy must be feeling really sick if he
misplaced them. This never happens.” She didn’t want to worry him. So she came
up with an idea of taking a glass and pressing medallions out of dough. She put
six of them next to each other and baked them.
In the oven, the bread was beautifully growing
and turning into shiny brown color smelling deliciously. Katharina was very
proud of herself. But as the bread was growing, the six medallions got
connected creating one loaf of gingerbread.
She briskly opened the oven door and as she
was pulling the bread from the hot oven, she saw the connected medallions and
her cheerful smile turned into a worry. She gasped “I don’t know if anybody
will want to buy gingerbread in such shape.”
She worried unnecessarily, because all
gingerbread was sold out the same day. People loved the good hearted girl so
much that they named the gingerbread in the shape of six medallions with her
name Katharina.
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