Cornmeal

Template:Short description Template:About Template:RedirectTemplate:Infobox food Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.<ref name="Herbst">Herbst, Sharon, Food Lover's Companion, Third Edition, Pg. 165, Barrons Educational Series Inc, 2001</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In Mexico and Louisiana, very finely ground cornmeal is referred to as corn flour.<ref name="Herbst" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When fine cornmeal is made from maize that has been soaked in an alkaline solution, e.g., limewater (a process known as nixtamalization), it is called masa harina (or masa flour), which is used for making arepas, tamales, and tortillas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Boiled cornmeal is called polenta in Italy and is also a traditional dish and bread substitute in Romania.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Types

There are various types of cornmeal:

• Blue cornmeal is light blue or violet in color. It is ground from whole blue corn and has a sweet flavor. The cornmeal consists of dried corn kernels that have been ground into a fine or medium texture.<ref name="AmEthnic">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Steel-ground yellow cornmeal, which is common mostly in the United States, has the husk and germ of the maize kernel almost completely removed. It will remain fresh for about a year if stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Stone-ground cornmeal retains some of the hull and germ, lending a little more flavor and nutrition to recipes. It is more perishable, but will store longer if refrigerated. However, it too can have a shelf life of many months if kept in a reasonably cool place.<ref name="AmEthnic"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• White cornmeal (mielie-meal), made from white corn, is more common in parts of Africa. It is also popular in the Southern United States for making cornbread.<ref name="AmEthnic"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Regional usage

Africa

Southern Africa's nshima cornmeal (top right corner), served with three relishes.

• Tuwo masara - Northern Nigeria<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mielie-meal or maize meal - Southern Africa<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Nomadi - Democratic Republic of the Congo<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Nshima or bwali - Zambia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Nsima - Malawi<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Oshifima or oshimbob - NamibiaTemplate:Citation needed
• Sadza / isitshwala/ - Zimbabwe<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ugali - Great Lakes (sima and posho in Uganda)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Recipes that may use cornmeal as an additional ingredient are fufu (foufou) in Central and West Africa.
• Soor - Somalia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cornmeal is also often used as an additional ingredient in the preparation of injera or lahoh, flatbread that is traditionally eaten in the countries of the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia) and nearby Yemen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Poudine maïs - Mauritius<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite webThis is a local dessert dish made from maize flour in which milk, sugar, dried sultanas and cardamon powder are cooked together. The cooked paste is poured on a tray and coconut powder is sprinkled thereon and left to cool. This dessert is often cut into triangular shapes and can be bought from food vendors in the streets of Port Louis and also in market fairs around the island.</ref>
• Sosso maïs- Reunion Island

Caribbean

• Cornmeal porridge - a popular meal served for breakfast in Jamaica.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cou-cou - part of the national dish of Barbados, "cou-cou and flying fish".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Funche - a typical breakfast in Puerto Rico cornmeal cooked with coconut milk, milk, raisins, butter, cloves, vanilla, ginger, sugar or honey and topped with fruit and cinnamon. There is also a savory funche made with cornmeal, coconut milk, chicken stock, sofrito and other ingredients. These are usually served with fish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Funchi also known as fungi/fungee - a cornmeal mush cooked and cooled into a stiff pudding, sometimes eaten with saltfish or pepperpot. It is consumed on the islands of Curaçao, Saint Martin and is part of the national dish of Antigua and Barbuda.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mayi moulen - a cornmeal dish in Haiti often cooked with fish or spinach. Can be eaten with avocado.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

East Asia

• Rolled corn porridge known as 糝糝飯 (Jin Chinese: Template:IPA or Template:IPA) is far more common than millet porridge in Shanxi and Shaanxi due to their disparity of local production.<ref name="tyrb 20210908"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Even if foxtail millet porridge is made, it is usually topped with rolled corn.<ref name="tyrb 20210908">Template:Cite news</ref> In Ji-lu Mandarin, rolled corn porridge is known as 棒子面粥 bangzimianzhou.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Wo tou (窩頭) - Shaped like a hollow cone, this cornbread looks like a bird's nest, after which it is named. It is commonly eaten in northern China, and may contain dried jujubes and other flavoring agents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Europe

• Arapash or harapash - Albania (similar to the Romanian style but often combined with lamb organs, or/and goat cheese)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Farina di granturco - Italy (not the same as farina, which is made from wheat)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• G'omi (Template:Lang-ka), mchadi (Template:Lang-ka), tchvishtari - Georgia (g'omi is similar to polenta, mchadi - cornbread, tshvishtari - cheese cornbread). Known by different names in local languages (Template:Langx abysta, Template:Langx mamrys, Template:Langx juran-hudar, Nogai: мамырза mamyrza, Template:Langx dzykka or сера sera), it is also widespread in other Caucasian cuisines.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Indian Meal or Yellowmeal - Ireland
• Kachamak (качамак) - Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mălai - Romania (the cornmeal itself; prepared as mămăligă)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Polenta - southern Europe, especially North Italy<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Banush - Ukraine (the dish prepared from cornmeal with added śmietana, topped with pork rind or mushrooms and bryndza etc. The dish is popular in the Carpathian region of western Ukraine)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Kuymak - Turkey, especially in the northern parts around the Black Sea.

North America

A corn muffin from Dunkin' Donuts

Grindstones inside Mingus Mill, in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Corn is placed in a hopper (top right) which slowly feeds it into the grindstone (center). The grindstone grinds the corn into cornmeal, and empties it into a bucket (lower left). The grindstones are turned by the mill's water-powered turbine.

• Masa or masa harina - Nixtamalized corn used for making tamales and tortillas in Central America, Mexico, and South America.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
• As a batter for a fried food, such as corn dogs<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Made into bread, as in corn fritters, cornbread, hushpuppies, jonnycakes, or spoonbread<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• As breading for fried or baked foods, such as fried fish<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>, fried oysters<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>, or fried frog legs<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• As a breakfast cereal ingredientTemplate:Citation needed
• Cheese curl-type snack foods, such as Cheetos and Cheezies
• In corn chips such as Fritos, but not tortilla chips or corn tortillas, which are made from nixtamalized maize flourTemplate:Citation needed
• Peameal bacon, back bacon rolled in cornmeal, known colloquially in the U.S. as 'Canadian bacon'
• As a release agent to prevent breads and pizza from sticking to their pans when bakingTemplate:Citation needed
• As grits<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• As a porridge, such as cornmeal mush, which is often then sliced and grilled<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Known as "samp", it was used in colonial times as a kind of porridge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

South America

• Template:Lang - Brazil.
• Masarepa - Soaked and cooked corn, ground fine into a flour, used in Colombia and Venezuela to make arepas, almojábanas and empanadas.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Polenta - a typical dish in many countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.<ref name=primiditalia>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Karoe papa (cornmeal porridge, mais pap) - a staple meal served in Suriname as breakfast or dessert with vanilla and/or almond essence, cinnamon and nutmeg.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

South Asia

• Makki di roti - a traditional Punjabi bread often eaten with saag in Punjab province of northern India and eastern Pakistan<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In parts of northern India and Pakistan ground corn flour is used to make thick slabs of bread which can be eaten with a wide variety of curry dishes or it can be coated in clarified butter or ghee and eaten with yogurt or lassi, a yogurt-based drink.

Southeast Asia

Template:Lang, from coarsely ground Visayan white corn, a common traditional rice alternative and a secondary staple cereal in the Philippines

• Bugas mais - dried and coarsely ground Visayan white corn are eaten as an alternative to steamed white rice, due to its slightly sweet flavor similar to rice. It is known as Template:Lang (Cebuano for "milled corn grains").<ref name="Polistico">Template:Cite book</ref> It is widely considered to be poverty food due to its relative cheapness. Template:Lang is considered a secondary staple food in the Philippines after white rice. It is a staple for around 20% of the Filipino population, particularly in farming regions in Visayas and Mindanao.<ref name="Elca"/><ref name="slowfood">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Kimilat">Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Maize flour
• Semolina
• List of maize dishes