Polenta is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled.
Polenta porridge with lentils (bottom) and cotechino sausage (top)
Polenta served in the traditional manner on a round wooden cutting board
Fried polenta with marinara sauce
Polenta with tomato sauce
Cornmeal is a meal ground from dried corn (maize). It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be. In Mexico, very finely ground cornmeal is referred to as corn flour. When fine cornmeal is made from maize that has been soaked in an alkaline solution, e.g., limewater, it is called masa harina, which is used for making arepas, tamales, and tortillas. Boiled cornmeal is called polenta in Italy and is also a traditional dish and bread substitute in Romania.
Cornmeal
Southern Africa's Nshima cornmeal (top right corner), served with three relishes.
Grindstones inside Mingus Mill, in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Corn is placed in a hopper (top right) which slowly feeds it into the grindstone (center). The grindstone grinds the corn into cornmeal, and empties it into a bucket (lower left). The grindstones are turned by the mill's water-powered turbine.
A corn muffin
