Few things are as comforting as a bowl of polenta or grits, ideally topped with some delicious, saucy situation, be it pork ragu or sautéed shrimp. But what is the difference between grits and polenta? Is it just that one is a staple of the American South, and the other comes from the land of prosciutto and Parmesan?
Well, no, although country of origin does play a part in the history of the Italian and American iterations of ground corn. Yes, both grits and polenta are made from ground corn, but the main difference here is what type of corn. Polenta, as you can probably guess from the color, is made from yellow corn, while grits are normally made from white corn (or hominy).
This obviously affects the color of both grits and polenta, but more importantly, it affects the texture. Your run-of-the-mill polenta will have a flakier, coarser grind than grits, which leads to a slightly chewier texture. Grits will usually end up being finer and smoother. This is partially due to the type of corn and partially due to the traditional geographical preparation.
When grits are good, they're very, very good.
But if you’re going to take one thing away from this whole thing, it should be this: there is a wide range in quality with both grits and polenta. If you’ve ever had super slimy, mushy grits or polenta, it’s most likely because the product was inferior to start with. You should never reach for any grits or polenta with a “quick-cooking” or “instant” on the package. This means they’ve been more highly processed or partially cooked. Stay away from the tube of Play-doh-y pre-cooked polenta or those instant oatmeal-esque packets of grits.
So what should you buy? You should head to the bulk bin at your grocery store and fill up. That’s most likely where they keep the most texturally supreme polenta or grits. You want them to be stone ground, and you want them to be as flaky and coarsely ground as possible. This leaves you with a more substantial, less one-noted dinner. Or breakfast. Or lunch.
Remember when we said that buying better grits and polenta is the take away here? We’ll amend that. You should also just be making more polenta and grits in general. They deserve that love.
