Cornbread! Where it came from and how to make it

Native Americans were the first to use finely ground dried corn kernels for food. Their cornbread was made of cornmeal, salt and water. Soon they began to use sweeteners and other ingredients. When the Europeans arrived cornbread quickly became a common dish. Corn was cheap and easy to grow in the new world.

Cornbread is sturdy and less perishable than wheat bread. It was so commonly made in America that cookbooks in the early 1800s did not include recipes for it. Instead the recipes were handed down to every young girl as they learned to make it for the daily meals.

Cornbread was popular during the Civil War because it was cheap and cornmeal based recipes like corn pone could be made without leavening. During the Civil War northerners preferred yellow corn meal with sweet flavorings like molasses. In the south they thought yellow cornmeal was only good for animal feed. They preferred white cornmeal with savory flavors like bacon fat.

Later, companies like the Chelsea Milling Company packaged cornbread mix for 20th century consumers. Today many people still love old fashioned cornbread, especially as an accompaniment with old fashioned American foods like chili.

(The image shows Iroquois women grinding corn. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Cornbread batter will go flat if stirred too much because you could beat out the air bubbles from the baking soda. Just stir it gently, until the ingredients are combined. Mix the batter by hand instead of using a mixer.

If you have trouble with your cornbread coming out dry add a can of creamed corn to the mix. Other add-ins like cheese, peppers, or grated zucchini will also help.

Make sure your cornmeal is fresh. If it smells stale and not sweet, wait until you have fresh corn flour.

Many recommend a cast iron skillet for a crispy golden crust.

(Photo by Smuukipuuki of Wikimedia Commons)

Traditional cornbread is a quick bread made from a batter that includes a leavening agent like baking powder, but not yeast. It is poured into a pan and baked like a cake. Johnnycake, also called hoecake, was a flat cornbread favored by Americans in the 19th century. This was so named because field hands would make an impromptu griddle out of a hoe or a shovel and bake flat cornmeal cakes.

Johnnycakes are unleavened and simply made with salt, water and cornmeal. Traditionally it is dressed up with molasses before eating. Hush puppies include ingredients similar to cornbread batter, like eggs, milk and baking powder, but hushpuppies are cooked differently. A cook drops tablespoons of the batter into hot oil to deep fry them.

(Hushpuppies photo by CrazyLegsKC of Wikimedia Commons.)

You can use a cast iron skillet to bake cornbread in if you want a crispy crust on the outside of your cornbread. Some cornbread bakers use old family skillets but if you don't have one look for one at a yard sale or flea market. If you look for a cast iron skillet in an antique store it will probably be expensive.

A cast iron pan should be well seasoned, which is rubbing the inside of the pan with grease and then heating it. This is the old fashioned way to make a non-stick pan. See some of the links below in the "Cast Iron Skillet Information and Recipes" section for more information on how to do this.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Oh, so you admit that you don't make your own from scratch, do you? You go out and buy one of those little blue and white boxes, right? Actually, plenty of Americans also rely on Jiffy corn mix. This popular American quick bread mix is the product of the Chelsea Milling Company. The founder's daughter, Mabel White Holmes, created the baking mix in 1930. She felt bad for a single father as he struggled to make nutritious meals for his twin boys.

The Jiffy Mix box is small because it is just enough for one meal. The Chelsea Milling Company never advertises because they believe it helps keep the cost of the mix down. But, there is plenty of positive word of mouth advertising as, according to the Jiffy web site, this company sells 57 percent of the muffin mixes sold in the country. Check out the links in the "All About Jiffy Cornbread Mix" section for old newspaper articles and other fun Jiffy trivia.