Having been all over the United States on business and pleasure, I am still perplexed about the popularity of grits in the American diet. Grits actually had their origin with the Native Americans, common in the southern U.S., and often served for breakfast. Grits are made from coarsely ground corn. The word grits is derived from the German “grutze”, meaning crushed or coarsely ground corn. Others say the word came from the Old English, “grytt” or “greot”, meaning something ground. Grits are similar to other thick corn-based porridges from around the world, such as polenta or farina.
The basic grits recipe is one part grits, and two to three parts boiling water, seasoned with butter and salt. It only requires 15-20 minutes of cooking until the water is absorbed and the grits reach a porridge-like consistency. Of course, the grits expand as they cook, and required constant stirring to prevent lumping and clumping. Some areas of the country add grated cheese on top, while others top it with sausage or ham (red-eye gravy). Local lore says closer to the Mason-Dixon Line means sugar is added instead of salt.
The only form of grits that I can tolerate are the fried grits. It is fried into a firm block in a pan of grease, butter, or better yet, bacon fat. At this point, a pat or two of butter, and a gallon of maple syrup are poured on top to make it palatable, in my opinion. A side of bacon or sausage is a welcome relief from the monotony of this rather bland and tasteless concoction.
It looks like mush!
Of course, grits are considered an institution in the south. Recently, in Charleston, we had shrimp and grits as an appetizer at a seafood restaurant. I ended up eating only the shrimp. The corn is dried on the cob, then removed, and soaked in a solution of baking soda, lime or wood ash. This causes the hulls to soften and swell. The kernels are hulled and degermed using friction, then dried. Grits can be ground and made into tortillas. However, the alkaline soaking process unbinds the niacin from the corn, and changes the protein balance. The result is an increase in lysine and tryptophan in the grits. Pellagra, a niacin and tryptophan deficiency, was common where corn was the main source of food. Somehow, civilizations discovered the process that made corn a more balanced source of nutrition.
Some of the other things that go with grits are sweet ice tea. Grits are commonly paired with cheese, onion, garlic, shrimp, sausage, and butter. To a Southerner, eating grits is a religion. A breakfast without grits is truly unthinkable. A true grit lover would not even consider instant or quick-cooking grits. When paired with shrimp or sausage, grits can be part of lunch or dinner. We had a sweet version of grits with sugar, cherry preserves, and syrup up in Sonoma at the Fremont Diner. Three-fourths of the grits served in the US are from a belt of the coastal states stretching from the Carolinas to Louisiana, also known as the “Grits Belt”.
Shrimp and grits
Jimmy crack corn, an’ I don’t care
Jimmy crack corn, an’ I don’t care
Jimmy crack corn, an’ I don’t care
The master’s gone away.
American folk song called “The Blue Tail Fly,”
by Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815-1904), American musician and songwriter, 1846.
Grits can be considered one of the first truly American foods. When the colonists landed in Jamestown in 1607, they were offered bowls of this boiled corn substance by the Indians. The Indians taught the colonists how to thresh the hulls from dried corn. In 1976, South Carolina declared grits the official food of the state:
Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of south Carolina used to be the site of a grist mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as The Charleston News and Courier proclaimed in 1952: ‘An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace.’
Such is life.
golfkat Travel Blog 
I LOVE grits. To me grits are wonderful because I grew up on grits. My family was from the south and back then this was something cheap for them to obtain. So I absolutely love the dishes you have here. Nice post.