Polenta is an old food, bound up with human evolution. Since prehistory man has fed on coarsely ground cereals, which were cooked in boiling water.

In the Roman period polenta was called pultem: it was made with emmer, which, ground and cooked, went well with meats and cheeses. Only when Columbus discovered America, the marriage between polenta and maize was accomplished and became indissoluble up until today.

The maize has spread all over Europe and polenta preparation was the same everywhere since 1500: the corn meal was cooked in water or broth and, in the end, some butter, milk, cheese, sauces and meat were added on.

An interesting detail is connected to the recipe for some rustic sweets (‘zaleti’), very common in Venice, which were made of corn meal before the discover of America. We have a suspicion the maize arrived in Italy from Veneto in the remote past, thanks to the trade of Venetians with the East.

Nowadays we know polenta, made with corn meal, can provide a good contribution of proteins, thanks to the nutritive features of this cereal. Besides, Italian gastronomy offers a variety of traditional recipes and very tasty revisitations, which accompany polenta with meats, cheeses and sauces.

As usual, we suggest that you could taste this old dish of the traditional cooking, visiting the places of production and introducing it in your daily menu…according to your tastes and your fantasy.

Enjoy your meal!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 9:58 am and is filed under italian cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.