Knowra Cornmeal Cornmeal Cornmeal is meal made by grinding dried maize kernels. Its texture ranges from fine to coarse, and it is used in foods including cornbread, polenta, and porridge.
Cornbread : Cornbread is a baked bread made with cornmeal, often combined with wheat flour, eggs, and liquid. Cornmeal supplies its characteristic flavor and crumb, especially in Southern United States recipes.
Maize : Maize is a cereal grain domesticated in the Americas and cultivated worldwide. Cornmeal is produced by grinding dried kernels of this crop.
Corn flour : Corn flour is finely ground maize, with naming conventions that vary between countries. Its finer grind generally produces different textures than ordinary cornmeal.
Starch gelatinization : Starch gelatinization is the swelling and structural change of starch granules when heated with water. It thickens cornmeal porridge and helps cooked cornmeal mixtures hold together.
Polenta : Polenta is an Italian dish made by cooking ground maize in water until thick. Coarse cornmeal is cooked slowly into a soft or firm polenta.
Milling : Milling is the mechanical process of reducing grain or other materials into smaller particles. Milling maize kernels creates cornmeal and determines its particle size.
Masa harina : Masa harina is dried flour made from nixtamalized maize dough. Unlike cornmeal, it is made from alkaline-treated kernels and forms dough readily.
Corn gluten : Corn gluten is a group of maize proteins, distinct from the gluten-forming proteins in wheat. Its proteins do not create the elastic network that gives wheat dough its stretch.
Hushpuppy : A hushpuppy is a small ball of cornmeal batter, usually deep-fried and served as a side dish. Cornmeal forms the batter that gives hushpuppies their crisp exterior.
Whole-grain : A whole grain retains its bran, germ, and endosperm in their original proportions. Whole-grain cornmeal retains the kernel’s bran and germ, unlike degerminated meal.
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