Cornmeal: Process and the usage of cornmeal

Cornmeal is dried and ground field that ranges in texture from fine to medium to coarse, all of which refer to the size of the bits. Cornmeal has long been used for baked goods and giving fried foods crunch and texture. It is the key ingredient in cornbread, cornmeal pancakes, and cornmeal scones. It is not a suitable replacement for corn flour in gluten free recipes.

Cornmeal is ground to fine, medium, and coarse textures but is not as refined as wheat flour. Refined cornmeal is made from maize. The maize goes through treatment in an alkaline medium, such as limewater, which is used to make tortillas and tamales.

The traditional way of making cornmeal was through stone-grinding, which retains some of the hull and germ of the kernels. The more modern way of grinding corn is through steel rollers, which remove most of the husk and germ which produce a finer ground, removes the germ and bran, and makes it shelf-stable.

Oil, vitamins, fibrous hulls, and starchy endosperm are all in whole-grain cornmeal. It has double the nutrients of determined cornmeal and promotes a rich and full flavor. Most yellow cornmeal is made from dent corn, which has a high starch content and prominent corny texture. Because it’s made just by grinding dried corn, it doesn’t contain any gluten or additional ingredients.

There are four types of Cornmeal:
*Blue cornmeal
*Metallic-ground yellow cornmeal
*Stone-ground cornmeal
*White cornmeal (mielie-meal
Cornmeal: Process and the usage of cornmeal