The title of “World’s Largest Gingerbread House” now belongs to a 60-foot-long-by-42-foot-wide gingerbread and icing-covered home in Bryan, Texas, but visitors looking to ingest some of the home’s 36 million calories will be disappointed.
Built to raise funds for a trauma center at nearby St. Joseph Health System, the lumber-framed home, which sports 22,304 pieces of candy and took thousands of pounds of brown sugar, eggs and flour to build, is roped off from the visitors who pay $3 per adult and $2 per child for a tour.
The home takes constant repair due to damage by the Texas sun and other weather and has a 6,500-square-foot tarp to protect it, said Bill Horton, general manager of the Texas A&M Traditions Club, which spearheaded the project.
A representative from the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed the home’s title at a ceremony on Nov. 30, where Horton verified the exterior’s gingerbread authenticity by tearing off a chunk and eating it, solidifying the candy home’s grip on the title from its previous owner that stood approximately 7 percent smaller at Minnesota’s Mall of America in 2006.
When it’s all said and done, the structure, when finally stripped of its sweet shell, may eventually become a real home.
“Basically it has everything but indoor plumbing,’’ Horton said.
Source: Today News
