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.
Sorry, I can’t scroll through all 200 replies but in case no one mentioned it there is a great documentary from the 70s called It’s Grits.
The waitress did not know what they were................
Scranton ... Too far north ... if you were orderin breakfast, you were in home fries country....
“... also did not have much flavor of their own, but were later supplemented with lots of salt, butter,...”
Could you not say the same about potatoes?
Grits, ham and red eye gravy. Yum!
Hominy isn’t bad, either.
How dare you!!!
HEATHEN!!
Sacrilege!!
Instant grits, sheez
I think he is a Democrat with his constant business bashing.
Yeehaw
Make him some good ol’ southern sweet tea.
8^)
5.56mm
Well, it ain’t southern unless you can feel your arteries hardening while your eating it.
Absolutely! I may have been displaced into the Midwest for over half of my life now, but I’m still a Southern girl at heart.
Bacon cheddar jalapeno grits. Anytime I bring them as a dish to share, there’s never any left to take home.
Not milk, but equal parts water, half and half, and heavy cream.
Cook grits until they are thick. Next, cook up some pork liver and onions and chop both up fine, and stir into the thickened grits. Put in a flat pan about 3 in deep and refrigerate. After it sets, slice about 1/2 in thick, roll in beaten egg and fry. Pure Heaven.
I get any further south I’ll be in Cuba.
...came out of the poor south having very little to feed itself with post civil war, and these recipes provided the minimal substance and nutrition.
___________________________________
My grandparents came from Russia, from areas where Jews were more or less limited to certain rural villages that were disadvantaged, to say the least.
We had buckwheat groats (I think *grits* is a variant of *groat*) called kasha,savory or sweet and often mixed with pasta and onions. Everything was cooked with schmaltz (chicken fat), schmaltz was used as a spread for bread. Bagels, a boiled bread, came about because the Jews in mixed ethnic villages were denied the use of the communal ovens to bake their bread. White radishes and schmaltz on dark rye was a favorite snack for the elders. Tough meats cooked for hours depended on a banked overnight fire, either to stretch fuel or because religious laws prevented striking a spark on Sabbath.
Peasant food is similar everywhere. Nothing wasted, everything stretched and yet, people find ways to make it all taste delicious. If you grow up with something, it becomes your *soul food* and you find yourself craving it decades later.
Don’t go that far! I love Cuban Americans and the food they brought with them, but I want to leave the Communist ways over there.
I’m in ft. Lauderdale just north of miami
...would take the pan of cooked grits, let it cool a bit and then put it in a loaf pan. She’s put the loaf pan in the refrigerator. The next morning she’d turn the grits out of the loaf pan, slice it and then flour and egg batter each slice before frying them slightly - fried grits. We’d put butter and maple syrup on them.
__________________
I’ve done that with Cream of Wheat.
Good stuff.
...those holiday meals taste great on the day they’re pulled out of the oven. But the next day? I never thought that leftovers tasted all that good.
__________________________
We make extra and even cook an entire meal if we’ve been invited out for the holiday, just to have the leftovers.
My husband loves to take leftover turkey stuffing and fry it for breakfast the next day. Especially a sausage stuffing, but giblets work for him, as well.
I make a sweet potato souffle with a praline topping and I am ordered to make extra when I am requested to being it for dinner somewhere else, so we can have it the next day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.