The spicy-sweet cake known as pain d’épice (gingerbread) was originally soaked in honey and eaten by the Greeks and Romans. But it was actually the Chinese and Arabs who brought it to France, and became a speciality of the city of Reims before World War I. Later, it was allegedly introduced into Burgundy by Margaret III, Countess of Flanders and wife of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. They say he was so fond of the cake that she brought her pastry chef along with her. Dijon’s version of pain d’épice is a bit different. It is made of wheat flour, not rye, and is flavoured with aniseed. Back then, there were dozens of factories making this speciality. Only one is now left, Mulot et Petitjean, which has been going strong since 1796.
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