does cornbread have added sugar

Some cornbread has a little bit of sugar (less than a tablespoon) to help it brown. Some has nothing but cornmeal, hot water, and a pinch of salt. And some versions are quite sweet, almost as sweet as cake. It’s a matter of regional style and personal taste.

Today’s Cornmeal

By the end of the Depression, old fashioned stone-ground cornmeal and grits had all but disappeared from the South, replaced by paper bags of finely-ground corn powder. The new cornmeal tended to be yellow, while the meal used for cornbread in much of the coastal South traditionally had been white. (There is a whole complex set of issues associated with the color of cornmeal that will have to wait for a later time.)

Cooks who paid attention knew there was a difference. “A very different product from the yellow cornmeal of the North is this white water-ground meal of the South,” wrote Dorothy Robinson in the Richmond Times Dispatch in 1952. “The two are not interchangeable in recipes. Most standard cookbooks, with the exception of a comparative few devoted to Southern cooking, have concerned themselves with yellow cornmeal recipes as if they did not know any other kind! They do not even distinguish between the two. They simply say, naively, a cup of cornmeal when listing ingredients in a recipe.”

But even those who knew the difference had trouble finding the old stone-ground stuff. In 1950, a desperate Mrs. Francine J. Parr of Houma, Louisiana, posted a notice in the Times-Picayune with the headline “Whos Got Coarse Grits?” and explained, “the only grits we can get is very fine and no better than mush. In short, Im advertising for some grocer or other individual selling coarse grits to drop me a line.”

Early Cornbread

The simplest type of cornbread was corn pone, which was made from a basic batter of cornmeal stirred with water and a little salt. It was typically cooked in a greased iron skillet or Dutch oven placed directly on hot coals. An iron lid was put on top and covered with a layer of embers, too, so the bread was heated from both bottom and top and baked within the pan.

Over time, the basic pone recipe was enhanced to become cornbread. Cooks first added buttermilk and a little baking soda to help it rise. Later, eggs and baking powder made their way into many recipes. But there are two ingredients you almost never see in any recipes before the 20th century: wheat flour and sugar.

In 1892, a Times correspondent, after enumerating the many types of corn-based breads eaten in Virginia, noted, “It will be observed that in none of them is sugar used. There are cornmeal puddings served with sweet sauces, but no Southern cook would risk the spoiling of her cornbreads by sweetening them.”

In 1937, the Times reported that “cornbread in Kentucky is made with white, coarsely ground cornmeal. Never, never are sugar and wheat flour used in cornbread. Water-ground cornmeal and water-ground whole wheat flour have still a market in Kentucky and are still used with delight.”

Mistakes Everyone Makes When Making Cornbread

FAQ

Why don’t Southerners put sugar in cornbread?

Does cornbread raise your sugar level?

Does Jiffy cornbread mix have sugar?

Should I add sugar to cornbread mix?

Does cornbread have sugar?

So I’m just going to say it: sugar has no business in cornbread. Neither, for that matter, does wheat flour. One might make something quite tasty with well-sweetened wheat flour mixed with cornmeal, but be honest with yourself and call it a dessert. Cornbread is something else. Now for a less personal perspective.

Is corn bread gluten free?

Corn as a cereal comes under the category of gluten free foods. Gluten is a protein which is mainly present in cereals like wheat, rye, barley. Corn bread can be gluten free but checking for the ingredient list is important as other things added into it may contain gluten. So whenever ready to eat corn bread is available check the food label to understand whether it is 100 percent gluten free.

Why do people put sugar in cornbread?

The change from stone to steel milling is likely what prompted cooks to start putting sugar in their cornbread, too. In the old days, Southerners typically ground their meal from varieties known as dent corn, so called because there’s a dent in the top of each kernel.

Can you make cornbread without sugar?

Here’s a breakdown of the top 9 sugar alternatives that you can use to make cornbread without sugar: For lots of baking enthusiasts, honey is what their minds immediately think of when looking for a sugar substitute and we couldn’t agree more! Honey is an all-natural alternative to sugar.