The color of cornmeal comes from the variety of corn from which it is milled. Besides the common white and yellow kinds you find at most grocery stores, some companies mill red and blue varieties, too. To see if there is a noticeable flavor difference, we made our Old-Fashioned Corn Muffins, Hushpuppies, and Easy Baked Polenta with yellow cornmeal and then with white cornmeal.
With the corn muffins, a few tasters did detect sweeter notes, stronger corn flavor, and a slightly more delicate crumb in the batch made with yellow cornmeal. However, in the tastings of the hushpuppies and polenta, we did not find strong flavor or textural differences (though visually many tasters preferred the look of the yellow cornmeal).
While most of our recipes work with yellow or white cornmeal, our testing here did confirm a more important distinction: Coarseness is key. When a recipe calls for a specific grind of cornmeal, be sure to use what’s called for, as it can greatly affect the texture of the final product. If the recipe does not specify, use finely ground. The test kitchen’s favorite finely ground cornmeal is Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Cornmeal.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Feel free to use white and yellow cornmeal interchangeably in recipes since flavor differences are minor. Just be sure to pay attention to the grind.
Coarse cornmeal will make baked goods gritty and pebbly, so save it for recipes where you want that texture: fried catfish, Southern-style, flour-free cornbread, and crunchy blueberry crisp topping. Unless a recipe explicitly calls for coarse cornmeal, you should generally stay away, as it requires a longer cooking time than other varieties.Wait, what about polenta, grits, and masa harina?
Jiffy cornbread mix, in case you really are standing in the baking aisle wondering, is wheat flour mixed with some cornmeal, a lot of sugar, lard, baking soda, and a handful of preservatives. (Note that because of the wheat flour, it’s not gluten-free.) Use it to make creamy, cheesy Corn Pudding.What if a recipe doesn’t specify which type of cornmeal to use?
If a recipe calls for cornmeal, you might find yourself in the grain aisle, staring down bags of grits, polenta, coarse cornmeal, fine cornmeal, blue cornmeal, corn flour, and a familiar box of Jiffy. Which do you turn to? All cornmeals have a purpose, and we’re here to help you find the right one for the job.
Want to experiment with adding cornmeal to recipes that call for only all-purpose flour? Substitute a quarter of the AP flour with fine or medium cornmeal and see how it affects the baked goods’ texture and flavor. (Since cornmeal is gluten-free, you don’t want to substitute it 100%, or your cake might be dense.)
If the package doesn’t specify the texture (sometimes they don’t), it’s safe to assume you’re getting either a fine or medium grind. Bags might also be labeled “stone-ground cornmeal.” Stone-grinding—which is, um, just what it sounds like—means that some of the hull and germ of the kernel are retained. This makes for a more nutritious and corn-forward product (it also tends to be coarser). If stone-ground isn’t advertised on the label, the cornmeal was most likely ground with steel rollers. These get rid of most of the hull and germ, making the cornmeal shelf-stable for longer. (Think of it sort of like whole wheat vs. all-purpose flour.)
With the corn muffins, a few tasters did detect sweeter notes, stronger corn flavor, and a slightly more delicate crumb in the batch made with yellow cornmeal. However, in the tastings of the hushpuppies and polenta, we did not find strong flavor or textural differences (though visually many tasters preferred the look of the yellow cornmeal).
While most of our recipes work with yellow or white cornmeal, our testing here did confirm a more important distinction: Coarseness is key. When a recipe calls for a specific grind of cornmeal, be sure to use what’s called for, as it can greatly affect the texture of the final product. If the recipe does not specify, use finely ground. The test kitchen’s favorite finely ground cornmeal is Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Cornmeal.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Feel free to use white and yellow cornmeal interchangeably in recipes since flavor differences are minor. Just be sure to pay attention to the grind.
The color of cornmeal comes from the variety of corn from which it is milled. Besides the common white and yellow kinds you find at most grocery stores, some companies mill red and blue varieties, too. To see if there is a noticeable flavor difference, we made our Old-Fashioned Corn Muffins, Hushpuppies, and Easy Baked Polenta with yellow cornmeal and then with white cornmeal.
Difference between White Cornmeal and Yellow Cornmeal
What is the difference between white and yellow cornmeal?
The only substantial difference between white cornmeal and yellow cornmeal is right there in the names: their colors. The two varieties get their hues from nothing more than the different colors of the kernels of corn from which they are ground. In terms of recipes and cooking methods, the two can be used more or less interchangeably.
What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yam?
Both sweet potatoes and yam are tuber vegetables and are actually very different. They belong to different plant families. Yams are sweeter than sweet potatoes, grow much larger and are also nutritionally inferior. There are two main types of sweet potatoes, both of which are elongated yellow or orange tubers that taper to a point at each end. The sweet potatoes are used in both savory and sweet dishes, most often baked, mashed or fried. When it is pureed it can be used in soups as well as baked foods and desserts. The yam tuber has brown or black scaly skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety. Yams are most often boiled, roasted or fried.
Is yellow corn sweeter than white corn?
Frankly not much, at least in terms of flavor. Though some people believe that yellow corn is sweeter, that’s not the case. The only difference is that the naturally occurring pigment that makes those kernels yellow, beta carotene, gives them a bit of a nutritional edge over white corn—beta carotene turns into vitamin A during digestion.
Can you use white cornmeal vs yellow cornmeals in fried foods?
Although it is more common to use a flour when making fried foods, this does not mean you cannot use white cornmeal vs yellow cornmeal. Although it is true that white cornmeal does lack flavor, it gives a nice color to the green tomatoes. Choose your tomatoes, and with egg yolk and a cornmeal mixture, coat the outside.