What's the difference between polenta and cornmeal?

Polenta is a dish from Northern Italy consisting of a variety of coarsely ground grains or starches cooked into porridge or mush. Chestnut flour and chickpea flour have been traditionally used, but cornmeal polenta is the most common preparation today. Since regular polenta requires quite a bit of time to cook – roughly 40 minutes of constant stirring – there is instant or quick-cooking polenta available, which has been pre-processed to reduce the lengthy cooking process.

What is cornmeal?

Cornmeal is made by grinding dried corn kernels into three different textures: fine, medium and coarse. Traditionally, cornmeal was made through stone-grinding, which retains some of the hull and germ of the kernels. This method results in more nutritious but also more perishable cornmeal due to the higher fat content. Modern cornmeal is made through steel rollers that remove most of the husk and germ, resulting in a longer shelf life. Cornmeal can be made from blue, white or yellow corn, and stone-ground cornmeal is often labelled ‘water ground’. Finely ground cornmeal is sometimes called corn flour, but in British recipes, corn flour actually refers to cornstarch, which is not made from the whole kernel. 

Differences between cornmeal and polenta

Cornmeal and polenta are both made from ground corn, but there are differences. First, polenta is a dish, and cornmeal is an ingredient. Cornmeal is used for cornbread, muffins and other baked goods, to add thickness to chillis and stews, and for crunchy coatings on fish, meat and poultry. Cornmeal is made by grinding dried corn kernels – yellow, white or blue – into fine, medium and coarse textures, while polenta is made from a specific variety of corn called flint corn. Polenta also has a coarser texture than most types of cornmeal. While cornmeal can be made from stone-ground or steel-roller ground corn, traditional polenta is usually made using stone grinding.

Polenta vs grits vs cornmeal

Polenta, grits and cornmeal are all made from ground corn but differ in their texture, flavour and how they're prepared. Polenta is made by cooking coarse cornmeal with water or stock until it thickens into a creamy porridge. Northern Italy's polenta is equivalent to grits in the southern US. Grits are made from hominy – dried corn kernels that have had the hull and germ removed – and are cooked with water or milk to a thick, creamy consistency. Cornmeal, on the other hand, is a fine or medium grind of corn that can be used in many dishes, including bread and muffins, and as a coating for fried foods. 

How to cook polenta