Corn, Grits, and Polenta

Corn, more accurately called maize or mahiz for its indigenous roots, is a kind of grass native to the Americas. According to recent DNA profiles, the “cradle of maize evolution” has been located in a river valley in southern Mexico. In this region, archaeologists also found milling tools with maize residue that date back almost nine thousand years. Corn grows in many colors, from white and yellow to bluish gray, purple, and red.

Columbus brought maize to the Old World from which it spread rapidly around the globe. While delicious as a staple, its protein is of lesser quality because it lacks two essential amino acids. Serving corn together with beans, dairy, or meat compensates for this shortfall.

The Aztec, Maya, and North American Indians treated corn with an alkali, a process called nixtamalization, which makes an important amino acid available to the human body. However, this traditional knowledge never made it across the Atlantic. As a result, impoverished southern Europeans who relied on a diet of cheap corn became sick with pellagra (from Italian pelle agra, literally, “sour skin”), a deficiency of vitamin B, or niacin. The disease, still common in Africa and China, also reached epidemic proportions in parts of the American South in the late nineteenth century.

Today corn is eaten around the globe, in countless variations from freshly grilled sweet corn on the cob to cornbreads and porridge—be it as southern grits, Italian polenta, Romanian mamaliga, or Greek katsamaki.

Cornmeal For Baking:
I always choose stone-ground whole grain cornmeal, which comes in different grinds. Look for the term “whole grain” on the package. Stone milling grinds grains more slowly and at a lower temperature than large-scale commercial steel milling, and produces delicious, more textured flours. Supermarket products are typically degerminated. This means that the nutritious germ and the fiber-rich bran have been removed for longer shelf life. Not all companies put the grind—fine, medium, or coarse—on the package. Sometimes you have to play a guessing game, looking closely at the meal or running it through your fingers.

When You Shop:
Polenta, grits, and cornmeal cause a lot of confusion. First, on a light note, when a recipe in this book calls for polenta, don’t go out and buy the plastic-wrapped tubes filled with a firm yellow mush. This is a ready-made product for last-minute preparations. Once you have tried real polenta, you will leave these tubes on the supermarket shelf. Italian polenta, now a trendy food, is essentially coarsely ground cornmeal, each little granule about the size of couscous. For the recipes in this book, look for packages labeled “polenta” or “corn grits” (but not the instant or quickcooking kind). They will provide you with a pleasant introduction to the grain and will deliver consistent results. However, polenta and grits sold in the United States are often refined, which makes them not a whole grain. As a nutritious alternative, my recipes also give instructions for coarse stone-ground whole grain cornmeal from widely available Bob’s Red Mill. This and other brands of more perishable whole grain cornmeal (with varying cooking times) are worth seeking out for their rich natural sweetness and toothsome texture.

This Tip was published in 'Ancient Grains for Moden Meals "Mediterranean Whole Grain Recipes for Barley, Farro, Kamut, Polenta, Wheat Berries, & More" by MARIA SPECK'