southern cornbread

Do you live in the south? Do you put sugar in your cornbread? I had no idea that traditional, southern cornbread was sugar-less! Apparently, I grew up eating "yankee" cornbread, which is really a corn cake made with flour and lots of sugar and honey drizzled on top for good measure (thank you Marie Callender's). Well, in my quest for this sugar free white flour free lifestyle, I came across lots of recipes for sugar-less cornbread.

I tried this one. But only because this article convinced me to. My favorite quote: "I'm just going to say it: sugar has no business in cornbread. Neither, for that matter, does wheat flour. One might make something quite tasty with well-sweetened wheat flour mixed with cornmeal, but be honest with yourself and call it a dessert." Ha!

Traditional cornmeal was stone ground and didn't require sugar or flour to enhance the texture, but as the methods for grinding cornmeal have changed over time, sugar and flour were added and what we have today is quite different than what was made traditionally. (According to the persuasive article.) Also, it must be baked in a cast iron skillet. Who knew?

I found Bob's Red Mill stone ground cornmeal (with the corn germ and bran left in) at my local sprouts. It is much chunkier than any cornmeal I've ever seen, and I was anxious to see how my bread would turn out. The verdict: my boys didn't really like it. I thought it was good, but it was a totally different cornbread than what I know, so I think it will take some getting used to. I think this recipe would be great the next day, soaked in warm milk with sugar on top. Alas.

Do you have a sugar less cornbread recipe you swear by? I'd love to try some others.