What is the difference between cornflour and corn meal?
In this brief article, we are going to answer the question,”What is the difference between cornflour and corn meal?”, and discuss what cornmeal and corn flour is, how they are made along with the health benefits of cornmeal and corn flour.
What is the difference between cornflour and corn meal?
The difference between cornmeal and corn flour is that corn flour has a smooth texture whereas cornmeal has a gritty texture. Another difference is that cornmeal is coarsely ground whereas corn flour is finely grounded.
What is corn flour?
Corn flour is a flour obtained by drying kernels of whole corn. The corns consist of the hull, germ and endosperm and thus comes under a type of wholegrain flour. The colour of corn flour can be white, yellow or blue depending on the type of corn used to make the flour. The texture of cornflour is also similar to whole wheat flour.
Corn flour is a carb extract from the corn’s endosperm and is also used as a thickening agent. Corn flour is used to provide texture to foods and is also used in baked goods and needs a binder such as eggs or xanthan gum to combine the flour to make a dough. It gives off a sweet earthy flavour when cooked but doesn’t have a pleasant taste when raw.
How is corn flour made?
Corn is traditionally dried in the sun and the cob is removed. Corn is then passed through a grain mill.
Corn is also made by blending in high performance blenders such as Vitamix or Blendtec. The kernels of popcorn are added to the blenders and blended until the formation of a fine powder.
The flour is stored in air-tight containers and refrigerated to be used for a few days, The flour can be stored long term by freezing in freezer bags and stored in the freezer for about 6 months
What are the health benefits of cornflour?
Corn flour is an excellent alternative to gluten flours and white/wheat flours. Gluten free foods and gluten free flours can sometimes be quite expensive, so cornflour makes a good healthy, and a cheap, easy to use and make option.
Gluten free diets are recommended to those with celiac disease. Gluten free choices may sometimes be limited because some celiac patients have diabetes (and vice versa), so cornflour is also a good option for those having celiac disease and diabetes.
It is also a great source of antioxidants and a good source of fibre which supports gastrointestinal health, by helping in the growth of healthy gut microflora, improving bowel movements and preventing and alleviating the severity of constipation.
What is corn meal?
Cornmeal is corn which is dried and grounded into powder. The type of corn used for making corn meal is field corn. Cornmeal requires a longer cooking time and the food can have a gritty texture if the corn meal is not properly cooked in its optimal time frame.
How is cornmeal made?
Cornmeal is made by blending dry popcorn kernels in a blender or a seed grinder until a powder is formed. At the first go, some uneven pieces do remain, so the kernels have to be blended a second and a third time.
What are the health benefits of cornmeal?
Cornmeal is beneficial as a source of energy because it is high in carbohydrates (94 grams). The presence of dietary fibre in cornmeal makes it a good source for treating constipation and improving bowel movements. Fibre in cornmeal also provides a feeling of fullness, termed as satiety. The fibre in cornmeal represents about 36% of the dietary reference intake i.e. the daily requirement of fibre.
Cornmeal is also beneficial for the transportation of oxygen by red blood cells, because it contains iron in significant quantities (4.2mg – which represents half of the daily requirement which is 8 mg for men.
Corn meal is useful for the making of DNA and also contributes to high mineral density and thus good bone health by working alongside calcium and vitamin D.
Other FAQs about Cornflour that you may be interested in.
Conclusion
In this brief article, we answered the question,”What is the difference between cornflour and corn meal?”, and discussed what cornmeal and corn flour is, how they are made along with the health benefits of cornmeal and corn flour.
