Polenta

Polenta is an Italian dish of boiled cornmeal that can be served soft or allowed to cool and solidify before being baked, fried or grilled. It is especially associated with northern and central Italy and with the Swiss region of Ticino, and its name derives from the Latin pollen, meaning fine flour, itself related to pulvis, or dust. Modern polenta is generally made from yellow or white cornmeal cooked in water or stock, though historical versions were made from buckwheat, white maize or mixed grains, and the coarseness of the grind determines the texture, with a coarser grind producing a firmer polenta and a finer grind producing a creamier one. Long associated with lower-income rural populations, for whom cornmeal mush was a dietary staple, polenta spread beyond Italy through Italian emigration and became significant in Brazilian, Uruguayan and Argentine cuisines.