Silly question..Corn flour/corn starch

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes.  I use cornstarch to thicken gravies.  How do they differ?   Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal?

In UK recipes it's one and the same.

corn flour
Finely ground cornmeal, corn flour comes in yellow and white and is
used for breading and in combination with other flours in baked goods.
Corn flour is milled from the whole kernel, while CORNSTARCH is
obtained from the endosperm portion of the kernel.

In British recipes the term "cornflour" is used synonymously with the
U.S. word cornstarch.

MASA HARINA is a special corn flour that's the basic ingredient for
corn tortillas.

� Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD
LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.
---

Sheldon

"biig" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

To the best of my knowledge, corn flour is corn starch (US vs UK or vice
versa). And I *think* corn meal is the yellow stuff that is polenta in Italy
(avalaible in at elast 3 degrees of fineness).

In article said:

"biig" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

To the best of my knowledge, corn flour is corn starch (US vs UK or vice
versa). And I *think* corn meal is the yellow stuff that is polenta in Italy
(avalaible in at elast 3 degrees of fineness).

Judging by the shelves in our local Coles supermarket, most Oz corn
flour is now made from friggin' wheat! "Wheaten Corn Flour" for
crissake!

You can still buy the real stuff though if you read the labels
carefully. It's very fine and soft and "disolves" *very* readily in
water so you can add quite a bit to a brew to thicken it without
adding much extra liquid.

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

Cornstarch IS cornflour... just a different name for it.

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:55:44 GMT, [email hidden] (Phred)

Quoted message said:

In article said:

"biig" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

To the best of my knowledge, corn flour is corn starch (US vs UK or vice
versa). And I *think* corn meal is the yellow stuff that is polenta in Italy
(avalaible in at elast 3 degrees of fineness).

Judging by the shelves in our local Coles supermarket, most Oz corn
flour is now made from friggin' wheat! "Wheaten Corn Flour" for
crissake!

You can still buy the real stuff though if you read the labels
carefully. It's very fine and soft and "disolves" *very* readily in
water so you can add quite a bit to a brew to thicken it without
adding much extra liquid.

That's been true for over a decade - if you're only just noticing it
now you're a bit behind the times... my mother was complaining about
the 'wheat' cornflour when I was still in school! I think there's
still one brand of real cornflour in Australia...

Quoted message said:

Judging by the shelves in our local Coles supermarket, most Oz corn
flour is now made from friggin' wheat! "Wheaten Corn Flour" for
crissake!

Wow, how strange.

Quoted message said:

You can still buy the real stuff though if you read the labels
carefully. It's very fine and soft and "disolves" *very* readily in
water so you can add quite a bit to a brew to thicken it without
adding much extra liquid.

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:51:51 +0200, "Jke" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Judging by the shelves in our local Coles supermarket, most Oz corn
flour is now made from friggin' wheat! "Wheaten Corn Flour" for
crissake!

Wow, how strange.

It's not really strange - Australia is a major wheat-growing country,
not a corn producer. They don't have cornflour for the same reason
that they use cane sugar instead of (ick) cornsyrup.

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

In the United States corn flour is different than cornstarch. And then
you can also find cornmeal. Cornmeal is grittier than corn flour. Corn
flour is more fine like flour. Masa is a type of cornmeal that is
processed with lime, used in making tamales and tortillas, Mexican
style. But if you are in the UK, corn flour IS cornstarch.

Melondy

Karen AKA Kajikit said:

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

Cornstarch IS cornflour... just a different name for it.

I thought so too, until yesterday a tv chef used 1 cup of corn flour
and 1 cup of unbleached ap flour to make pasta......???

Melondy said:

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

In the United States corn flour is different than cornstarch. And then
you can also find cornmeal. Cornmeal is grittier than corn flour. Corn
flour is more fine like flour. Masa is a type of cornmeal that is
processed with lime, used in making tamales and tortillas, Mexican
style. But if you are in the UK, corn flour IS cornstarch.

Melondy

Thanks. I use cornmeal for cornbread and to dust a pizza pan, corn
starch for gravy. I've seen corn flour in the stores.....Sharon

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

See section 3 of the rec.[censored].cooking FAQ.

Victor

In article said:

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:55:44 GMT, [email hidden] (Phred)

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Jke"

<[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

To the best of my knowledge, corn flour is corn starch (US vs UK or vice
versa). And I *think* corn meal is the yellow stuff that is polenta in Italy
(avalaible in at elast 3 degrees of fineness).

Judging by the shelves in our local Coles supermarket, most Oz corn
flour is now made from friggin' wheat! "Wheaten Corn Flour" for
crissake!

You can still buy the real stuff though if you read the labels
carefully. It's very fine and soft and "disolves" *very* readily in
water so you can add quite a bit to a brew to thicken it without
adding much extra liquid.

That's been true for over a decade - if you're only just noticing it
now you're a bit behind the times... my mother was complaining about
the 'wheat' cornflour when I was still in school! I think there's
still one brand of real cornflour in Australia...

Aw, geez, Karen. "For over a decade"? That's *recently* in my book,
hence "now made from friggin' wheat!" But I admit I can't say when I
did first notice it. Perhaps when I bought the packet (of *real* corn
flour) I just finished last week -- the Use By date was Oct 1995. 🙂
Clearly, I don't use much; but it keeps forever in the freezer. (Or at
least keeps well enough to do what I want it to do. :-)

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

biig said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal?

In UK recipes it's one and the same.

corn flour
Finely ground cornmeal, corn flour comes in yellow and white and is
used for breading and in combination with other flours in baked goods.
Corn flour is milled from the whole kernel, while CORNSTARCH is
obtained from the endosperm portion of the kernel.

In British recipes the term "cornflour" is used synonymously with the
U.S. word cornstarch.

MASA HARINA is a special corn flour that's the basic ingredient for
corn tortillas.

? Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD
LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.
---

Sheldon

It should be noted that Masa Harina is a specially processed (slaked) corn and
therefore differs in taste;

Dimitri

masa; masa harina
[MAH-sah ah-REE-nah]
The Spanish word for "dough," masa is the traditional dough used to make corn
TORTILLAS. It's made with sun- or fire-dried corn kernels that have been cooked
in limewater (water mixed with calcium oxide). After having been cooked, then
soaked in the limewater overnight, the wet corn is ground into masa. Masa harina
(literally "dough flour"😉 is flour made from dried masa.
© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S
COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herb

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Phred) said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Jke"

Quoted message said:

"biig" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never used corn flour, but have heard about using it in
recipes. I use cornstarch to thicken gravies. How do they differ? Is
corn flour just finer ground corn meal? Thanks....Sharon

To the best of my knowledge, corn flour is corn starch (US vs UK or vice
versa). And I *think* corn meal is the yellow stuff that is polenta in Italy
(avalaible in at elast 3 degrees of fineness).

Judging by the shelves in our local Coles supermarket, most Oz corn
flour is now made from friggin' wheat! "Wheaten Corn Flour" for
crissake!

It's been that way in NZ for at least 20 years.

Quoted message said:

You can still buy the real stuff though if you read the labels
carefully. It's very fine and soft and "disolves" *very* readily in
water so you can add quite a bit to a brew to thicken it without
adding much extra liquid.

Look for maize cornflour.

Miche

--
In the monastery office --
Before enlightenment: fetch mail, shuffle paper
After enlightenment: fetch mail, shuffle paper