# Grits - white or yellow



## callmaker60 (Apr 16, 2015)

I have seen yellow grits on some cooking shows, but have only eaten, bought grits that were white. So my question is .. Is yellow corn meal grits?


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## medtran49 (Apr 16, 2015)

They are both corn meal, albeit very coarsely ground corn meal.  The color difference is the type of corn.  Have you never noticed white and yellow corn in the grocery (sometimes even both on the same ear)?  BTW, there is a world of difference between instant, quick and stone ground grits.  I won't touch the first 2 personally.


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## callmaker60 (Apr 16, 2015)

great thanks..


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## Roll_Bones (Apr 16, 2015)

We eat grits here in the south. We like them.
We prefer yellow course ground over refined white grits.  The kind you  must cook on the stove top.  20-25 minutes simmer until cooked to our liking.  I do not like them firm. I like them loose. Loose so you need a bowl.
You can't miss with yellow, course ground, unrefined grits.


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## medtran49 (Apr 16, 2015)

Roll_Bones said:


> We eat grits here in the south. We like them.
> We prefer yellow course ground over refined white grits. The kind you must cook on the stove top. 20-25 minutes simmer until cooked to our liking. I do not like them firm. I like them loose. Loose so you need a bowl.
> You can't miss with yellow, course ground, unrefined grits.


 
Umm, white grits can be coarse ground, unrefined too.  Again, it's the type of corn used as to what color the grits are.  While I'll agree that quick and instant grits are generally white, so can coarse, stone-ground grits be white.  In fact, I have a bag and a-half left out of the last 3 that I purchased in my pantry and I personally like to cook them even longer than 20-25 minutes as they just get creamier and softer and better tasting.  White grits tend to be a bit more mellow and not as in your face corn as yellow grits.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 16, 2015)

For grits I like white, for polenta I like yellow.  I do use them in different ways, grits as a hot cereal and polenta can be looose to firm depending on what I am making.

Love corn meal mush (yellow polenta) chilled with sausage or bacon bits and then fried with butter and maple syrup to serve.


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## forty_caliber (Apr 16, 2015)

callmaker60 said:


> I have seen yellow grits on some cooking shows, but have only eaten, bought grits that were white. So my question is .. Is yellow corn meal grits?



Yellow corn meal is NOT grits.  Corn meal is ground dried corn. 

Grits are ground from hominy an alkali treated dried corn product. 

.40


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 16, 2015)

forty_caliber said:


> Yellow corn meal is NOT grits.  Corn meal is ground dried corn.
> 
> Grits are ground from hominy an alkali treated dried corn product.
> 
> .40



I was thinking that, but not sure of my memory.  Thanks .40!


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## Addie (Apr 16, 2015)

All I have ever seen are white grits. In every restaurant I ever ate in down south. I didn't even know there could be yellow grits. Now I know why. 

Although I use finely ground yellow corn for muffins. (And yes, as a Yankee, I do put sugar in them.)


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## medtran49 (Apr 16, 2015)

forty_caliber said:


> Yellow corn meal is NOT grits. Corn meal is ground dried corn.
> 
> Grits are ground from hominy an alkali treated dried corn product.
> 
> .40


 
_According to many food historians and the USDA, *all forms of milled dry corn are some iteration of cornmeal*, and all foods cooked from any of these forms are an iteration of mush._

From About Corn | Anson Mills - Artisan Mill Goods from Organic Heirloom Grains and I kind of think these folks know what they are talking about.  Besides that, hominy is corn, albeit treated, so it's still ground up corn.  So, all grits are cornmeal, but not all cornmeal is grits.  Just like oranges are citrus but not all citrus are oranges. 

And BTW, all grits are not made from hominy.  A lot are, especially widely distributed commercial brands, but some are made from whole kernel corn.  The package will say whole corn or whole kernel or whole grain or something else along those lines.  I'm sure that is what the OP is seeing on the cooking shows, grits made from whole kernel yellow corn.


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## taxlady (Apr 16, 2015)

forty_caliber said:


> Yellow corn meal is NOT grits.  Corn meal is ground dried corn.
> 
> Grits are ground from hominy an alkali treated dried corn product.
> 
> .40


That's what I thought. BTW, for anyone who doesn't know about hominy, it is nixtamalized (the alkali treatment) and there are vitamins in corn that are only usable by humans if it has been nixtamalized.


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