Cornmeal

"Indian meal" redirects here. For food of India, see Indian cuisine.
Cornmeal

Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize (corn). It is a common staple food, and is ground to fine, medium, and coarse consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour.[1] In the United States, very finely ground cornmeal is also referred to as corn flour.[1] 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, which is used for making tamales and tortillas. Boiled cornmeal is called polenta.

Types

There are various types of cornmeal:

Regional usage

Caribbean

East Asia

Equatorial Africa

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

Europe

Horn of Africa

Indian Ocean

This 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. Simple and delicious, this is a popular dish loved by many. 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.

Mesoamerica and South America

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.

North America

A corn muffin.

South Asia

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 lassie which is a yogurt based drink especially in summer.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Herbst, Sharon, Food Lover's Companion, Third Edition, Pg. 165, Barrons Educational Series Inc, 2001
  2. 1 2 3 Kilbride, Philip; Goodale, Jane; Ameisen, Elizabeth, eds. (1990). Encounters With American Ethnic Cultures. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama. p. 82. ISBN 0-8173-0471-1. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  3. "Section II: Food Commodity Fact Sheets". Commodities Reference Guide. USAID.
  4. 1 2 Blazes, Marian. "Masarepa - - Precooked Corn Flour for Making Arepas". About Food. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  5. "La storia della polenta" [The history of polenta]. I primi d'Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 31 January 2016.
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