by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Question: What do you get when you combine 50 pounds of flour, 50 pounds of sugar, 100 candy canes, 20 pounds of assorted gumdrops and other candies, six pounds of Golden Grahams and shredded wheat and add hundreds of hours of meticulous baking, assembly and decoration?
Answer: The Seaside Gingerbread Village in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Riverfront hotel.
It took Carlos Feldman, the hotel’s pastry chef, and his four assistants almost three weeks to bake the many components and then assemble them on a table next to the Christmas tree in the lobby.
Feldman said making gingerbread houses is a holiday tradition that began hundreds of years ago, most likely in Germany. He added this is the first time the Hyatt has hosted such a display since the brand took over management of the property almost three years ago, but it’s not the first time he and his staff have tried.
This year is the first because the climate in North Florida is much more humid than that of Europe in the winter, especially when you consider a pastry chef could toss a cookie sheet into the St. Johns River from the Hyatt’s front door.
“We made six houses last year, but before we could assemble them we had three days in a row of rain and they all fell in on themselves,” said Feldman.
After quite a bit of research, he found a recipe for gingerbread that looks like it and smells like it, but is what Feldman called, “humidity resistant.”
“It’s pretty to look at, but not so good to eat. It’s definitely a construction-grade gingerbread,” he said.
The recipe is a success and now that a way to create a durable display is in his repertoire, Feldman said he plans to make the eye-catching aromatic celebration an annual part of the hotel’s holiday decorations.
“We enjoyed doing it and our guests have certainly been enjoying it,” he said.
The Seaside Gingerbread Village will remain on display until Saturday when the hotel’s lobby will be cleared to make room for the arrival of fans for the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl.