We like to add a couple tablespoons of raw organic honey, shredded sharp cheddar and some green chiles to our standard cornbread recipe for a special treat.
We live in the north but often visit the south because we have family there. One big thing I've noticed is that Sourthern cornbread is NOT sweet. Now I am a big fan of southern food - can we say chocolate gravy?
- but I just have not enjoyed the non sweetened versions of cornbread I've tried so far.
Might just be a mental thing!
No it’s not a mental thing. Southern cornbread is just awful. But it’s because of the cornmeal itself.
Traditionally cornbread in the entire US was made without sugar or wheat flour. Both additions were added by Northerners after the 1920’s.
The southern no wheat, no sugar cornbread recipes reflect the use of stone ground cornmeal. Up until the 1930s corn was stone ground. Stone milling preserved most of the kernel. Now corn is steel ground, which separates the kernel. The heat generated by the steel rollers also destroys all the flavor and a lot of the nutrients.
Traditionally, they also used a different variety of corn. It was a white corn, not yellow, with a high sugar content. It was harvested ripe, so it produced a sweet cornmeal. The corn used today is yellow and harvested unripe so the sugars have not developed.
The yellow steel ground cornmeal produces a dry, bland, low rising cornbread. When this type of cornmeal hit the market, cooks outside of the south begin to add flour for better rise, and sugar for flavor. Despite the changes in the quality of the cornmeal, Southerners never changed the way they made cornbread.
My grandmother was a southerner but cornbread was something she did not make often. I was not a fan. My best friend’s mother was also a southerner, Mississippian, but she made northern style cornbread. To me that was a bit more tolerable but I still was not a fan.
As an adult I’ve baked northern style cornbread using the additions of wheat flour and sugar. But still wasn’t much of a fan. But now I cannot eat wheat, so cornbread hasn’t made an appearance in my house for some years. But it’s something I’ve been contemplating.
Over the weekend I baked several batches of cornbread substituting wheat flour with a gluten-free blend. I was very disappointed in the results. I tossed all three batches out. Since Southern style cornbread is naturally gluten-free, I decided to look for stone ground white cornmeal.
I found one mill: Anson Mills. The owner, Glenn Roberts, sought out the heirloom white corn that had been traditionally cultivated in the south. He uses cold milling to preserve the flavor. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to try this cornmeal. I’m hopeful.
http://ansonmills.com/biographies
