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What Are Grits, and Are They Healthy?
www.healthline.com ^ | on April 5, 2019 | Ryan Raman, MS, RD

Posted on 08/24/2020 9:33:52 AM PDT by Red Badger

Grits are a popular dish widely consumed across the Southern United States.

They’re made from dried, ground corn (Maize) cooked in various liquids — including water, milk, or broth — until the mix reaches a thick, creamy, porridge-like consistency.

While grits are incredibly popular, many people wonder whether they’re good for you.

This article reviews grits, including their nutrition, benefits, and whether they’re healthy.

What are grits?

Grits are a popular Southern American dish made from crushed or ground corn.

They’re most commonly served as a breakfast or side dish and usually made from a variety of corn called dent corn, which has a softer, starchy kernel (1).

The crushed corn granules are typically cooked in either hot water, milk, or broth until they reach a thick yet creamy consistency that is similar to porridge.

Grits are often paired with flavorful ingredients, such as butter, sugar, syrups, cheeses, and meats like bacon, shrimp, and catfish.

You can purchase several varieties of grits, including:

Stone-ground. These are made from whole, dried corn kernels that are coarsely ground in a mill. This type is harder to find in grocery stores because it has a short shelf life and takes 30–60 minutes to cook on the stove (2). Hominy. These are made from corn kernels soaked in an alkali solution to soften the tough pericarp (outer shell or hull). The pericarp is rinsed, then removed, and the corn kernels undergo further processing to make hominy (3Trusted Source). Quick and regular. These types undergo processing, which involves removing the pericarp and germ (nutrient-rich embryo), so they have a longer shelf life. Regular versions are medium ground while quick are finely ground (2). Instant. This precooked, dehydrated version has had both the pericarp and germ removed. They’re widely available in grocery stores.

Summary:

Grits are a popular Southern American dish made from ground, dried corn. They are typically cooked in milk, water, or broth until they reach a thick, creamy consistency.

Grits nutrition facts

Grits contain a variety of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

One cup (257 grams) of cooked, regular grits provides the following nutrients (4):

Calories: 182

Protein: 4 grams

Fat: 1 gram

Carbs: 38 grams

Fiber: 2 grams

Folate: 25% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)

Thiamine: 18% of the RDI

Niacin: 13% of the RDI

Riboflavin: 12% of the RDI

Iron: 8% of the RDI

Vitamin B6: 7% of the RDI

Magnesium: 5% of the RDI

Zinc: 4% of the RDI

Phosphorus: 4% of the RDI

What’s most impressive about grits is that they’re high in iron, which is essential for red blood cell production. They also include many B vitamins, such as folate and thiamine, as well as trace amounts of potassium, pantothenic acid, calcium, and vitamin E (5Trusted Source).

However, regular versions contain fewer vitamins and minerals — like calcium and vitamins A and C — than the stone-ground varieties made from whole corn kernels (4).

That’s because they undergo several stages of processing, which removes nutritious parts of the corn like the pericarp and germ (2).

Summary:

Grits provide a variety of nutrients and are especially high in iron and B vitamins. Stone-ground varieties are more nutritious, as they don’t have the pericarp and germ removed.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: breakfast; cooking; corn; food; grits; maize; osafke; polenta; redneckpolenta; safke; sofkee; sofkey; sofki; southernliving
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To: bert

Crawdads and grits is fine, too!..............


121 posted on 08/24/2020 10:36:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Hi again.

Grits are cooked a number of ways. Grits are prepared a number of ways. I like most all of them.

Okay, since you asked, no sugar, syrup,honey or milk.

5.56mm


122 posted on 08/24/2020 10:40:41 AM PDT by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! Finish THE WALL!)
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To: Red Badger

***They’re made from dried, ground corn (Maize) ***

In the USA, corn and maize are two different things.

Corn is the “corn” we buy in the store and grow in the garden.

Maize is more of a sorghum cane whose seeds are used in catte feed and bird seed.

If you watch the But Lancaster movie APACHE, he gets some corn seeds from the tribes of the Tahlequah. This is real corn. But when it is gone, his wife gets some corn seed to plant in which the crop that comes up is really “Maize” or sorghum cane.


123 posted on 08/24/2020 10:41:12 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: M Kehoe

I’ve had grits just about every which away you can have them. I like them all!......................


124 posted on 08/24/2020 10:41:39 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................)
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To: dfwgator

One of my favorite movies!!


125 posted on 08/24/2020 10:42:22 AM PDT by PistolPaknMama
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To: bert

The very ACME of a southern breakfast must include cat-head biscuits and Cane Syrup.


126 posted on 08/24/2020 10:42:27 AM PDT by smvoice (I WILL NOT WEAR THE RIBBON.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

I know. In Europe they call what we call ‘corn’ ‘maize’............


127 posted on 08/24/2020 10:42:45 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................)
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To: NohSpinZone

Grits is a staple of the South

My husband has them every Sunday after church......diners and restaurants serve them here

I like mine with sugar......my husband smushes his eggs over easy into his grits and adds pepper


128 posted on 08/24/2020 10:45:35 AM PDT by Guenevere (Press On!)
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To: Red Badger

My eggs are over medium, but otherwise exactly how I eat mine! Yum!


129 posted on 08/24/2020 10:45:47 AM PDT by PistolPaknMama
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To: Kickass Conservative

I call grits “southern polenta”

Don’t care for either of them.


130 posted on 08/24/2020 10:48:47 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (Life is about ass, you're either covering, hauling, laughing, kicking, kissing, or behaving like one)
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To: BamaBelle

I like my sweet grits and I’m Southern to the core!


131 posted on 08/24/2020 10:48:59 AM PDT by Guenevere (Press On!)
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To: Kickass Conservative

More tasteless than oatmeal? Better see a doctor; your tastebuds are dying


132 posted on 08/24/2020 10:52:28 AM PDT by chesley (What is life but a long dialog with imbeciles? - Pierre Ryckmans)
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To: Clutch Martin

Don’t worry, leftards will get to it. The white man changed the name; its another symptom of our racist hegemony; and it will be renamed to maize.
Maize-fed beef just doesn’t have the same ring to it though.


133 posted on 08/24/2020 10:53:58 AM PDT by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: Red Badger

As a transplanted Yankee, I was amused when I interviewed for my job in the Deep South and was taken out for breakfast; part of what my interviewers were looking at was my reaction to grits (I did better than Vinnie).

It didn’t take me too long to realize grits are not food, they are a matrix for food - sometimes simple stuff like redeye gravy, or just butter, salt and pepper, or more elaborate things, like cheese or shrimp. I now do mine with sautéed onion and green pepper, which I would recommend veteran grits afficiandos take a shot at.


134 posted on 08/24/2020 10:56:35 AM PDT by Stosh
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To: Red Badger

To answer the question on whether or not grits are good for you, one must 1st ask this question;

Are they tasty?

If the answer is yes, then they are obviously dangerous to your health.


135 posted on 08/24/2020 11:01:50 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle ( The Great Wall of Trump ---- 100% sealing of the border. Coming soon.)
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To: Stosh

***I now do mine with sautéed onion and green pepper, which I would recommend veteran grits afficiandos take a shot at.***

I think that’s a fine idea, I’ll try that version next time. Any particular choice of meat that you’d recommend?


136 posted on 08/24/2020 11:02:01 AM PDT by FamiliarFace
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To: Guenevere

Grits sweetened with butter and a big glop of sorghum molasses makes any meal a banquet.


137 posted on 08/24/2020 11:03:33 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Balding_Eagle

Plain grits with no additives at all are rather bland and tasteless. Like a canvas before the artist paints the masterpiece!

So, they must be healthy!...........................


138 posted on 08/24/2020 11:04:04 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................)
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To: TexasGator

Grits with either redeye gravy or cheese.


139 posted on 08/24/2020 11:13:18 AM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: freedumb2003

“I say they are a lot like Cream of Wheat but with less taste.”

That was my impression. I can see why many smother them in butter.


140 posted on 08/24/2020 11:15:05 AM PDT by doorgunner69 (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading - T Jefferson)
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