Cornmeal

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Meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize

title: "Cornmeal" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cuisine-of-the-southern-united-states", "flour", "maize-products"] description: "Meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornmeal" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox food"]

FieldValue
imagePolenta uncooked.jpg
main_ingredientMaize
cookbookMaize meal
::

::callout[type=note] coarsely ground maize flour ::

| image = Polenta uncooked.jpg | main_ingredient = Maize | cookbook = Maize meal 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. In Mexico and Louisiana, very finely ground cornmeal is referred to as corn flour. 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. Boiled cornmeal is called polenta in Italy and is also a traditional dish and bread substitute in Romania.

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Regional usage

Africa

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Nsima_Relishes.JPG" caption="Southern Africa's ''[[nshima]]'' cornmeal (top right corner), served with three [[relish]]es."] ::

Caribbean

  • Cornmeal porridge - a popular meal served for breakfast in Jamaica.
  • Cou-cou - part of the national dish of Barbados, "cou-cou and flying fish".
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Mayi moulen - a cornmeal dish in Haiti often cooked with fish or spinach. Can be eaten with avocado.

East Asia

  • Rolled corn porridge known as 糝糝飯 (Jin Chinese: or ) is far more common than millet porridge in Shanxi and Shaanxi due to their disparity of local production. Even if foxtail millet porridge is made, it is usually topped with rolled corn. In Ji-lu Mandarin, rolled corn porridge is known as 棒子面粥 bangzimianzhou.
  • 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.

Europe

  • Arapash or harapash - Albania (similar to the Romanian style but often combined with lamb organs, or/and goat cheese)
  • Farina di granturco - Italy (not the same as farina, which is made from wheat)
  • G'omi (ღომი), mchadi (მჭადი), tchvishtari - Georgia (g'omi is similar to polenta, mchadi - cornbread, tshvishtari - cheese cornbread). Known by different names in local languages ( abysta, mamrys, juran-hudar, Nogai: мамырза mamyrza, dzykka or сера sera), it is also widespread in other Caucasian cuisines.
  • Indian Meal or Yellowmeal - Ireland
  • Kachamak (качамак) - Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia
  • Mălai - Romania (the cornmeal itself; prepared as mămăligă)
  • Polenta - southern Europe, especially North Italy
  • 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)
  • Kuymak - Turkey, especially in the northern parts around the Black Sea.

North America

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Dunkin-Donuts-Corn-Muffin.jpg" caption="A corn [[muffin]] from [[Dunkin' Donuts"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Mingus-mill-interior1.jpg" caption="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."] ::

South America

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 lassi, a yogurt-based drink.

Southeast Asia

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Bugas_mais_(Visayan_white_corn_grits),_Philippines_03.jpg" caption="Bugas mais]]}}, 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 bugas mais (Cebuano for "milled corn grains"). It is widely considered to be poverty food due to its relative cheapness. Bugas mais 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.

References

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::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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