With the rich choice of ingredients, baking aids and decorative items the imaginative cook can create the most spectacular gingerbread houses and centerpieces ever. Mix ginger, flour, baking soda and salt together. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture just to combine. Bake until lightly golden 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool completely.
All ginger comes from a strange, twisted rhizome called ginger root.
This root is the hot, pungent spice ginger that has been known from ancient times. The spice originated in Asia, though now it is grown mostly in Jamaica. Ginger was the second most highly traded spice after pepper. At its peak, in January and February the pale golden sweet flesh is low in fiber and medium hot. The root may be pickled in vinegar, canned, crystallized or preserved in syrup.