Honey Cornbread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do Southerners not put sugar in cornbread? ›

The most common theory is a change in cornmeal itself. Until early in the 20th century, Southern cornmeal was made with sweeter white corn and it was water-ground. When industrial milling came along, that changed. The steel-roller mills used yellow corn that was harvested before it was ripe, so it had less sugar.

This cornbread recipe is my favorite. It's made with browned butter, for maximum butter flavor, and it's naturally sweetened with honey (maple syrup works, too).

A quick Google search will tell you that Southern cornbread is oftentimes devoid of any sugar, while its Northern counterpart is light, sweet, buttery and cakelike.

Use it as a side dish or crumble it up to make cornbread stuffing. You can never go wrong with cornbread, especially when paired with complementary dishes such as smoked pork tenderloin, Texas chili, ham and beans, Hoppin' John, Shrimp Creole and honey glazed ham.

The exact nutritional profile of cornbread can vary depending on the specific recipe and ingredients used. However, cornbread generally contains high amounts of carbs, phosphorus, and sodium in each serving. One piece of cornbread prepared from a commercially prepared mix contains ( 2 ): Calories: 198.

A typical contemporary northern U.S. cornbread recipe contains half wheat flour, half cornmeal, milk or buttermilk, eggs, leavening agent, salt, and usually sugar, resulting in a bread that is somewhat lighter and sweeter than the traditional southern version.

To substitute 1 cup of sugar: Use 2/3 cup honey. Honey is sweeter than sugar, so you need to use less. Decrease other liquids in the recipe by 1/4 cup, because there's water in the honey too.

Here's the good news about honey. Unlike table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (the most commonly used sweeteners in the U.S.), honey contains other nutrients that studies show to be beneficial to health. The biggest health boost comes from the antioxidants in honey.

Allulose

Allulose is a low calorie sweetener that's derived from fruits such as figs and raisins. It sorta tastes like a less sweet table sugar. Pros: Allulose doesn't have any impact on your blood sugar or insulin levels. This makes it a great honey alternative for people who have diabetes or are on a low carb diet.

The thing that distinguishes Southern cornbread from, say Yankee cornbread, or any other cornbread one is likely to eat outside of the southern states, is that it is savory, not sweet, and it is made mostly with cornmeal.

What did cornbread used to be called? ›

Among them was a version of Indian bread made of cornmeal, salt and water called pone or corn pone. The name came from the Algonquin word apan, meaning "baked." The Narragansett word for cornbread, nokechick, became no-cake and then hoe-cake.

Southerners, on the other hand, tend to prefer white cornmeal. Many people believe that it is because, in the old South, families used white cornmeal as it more closely resembled “fancy” European wheat flour. In any case, today it remains a main component in traditional Southern buttermilk cornbread.

WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, DEGERMED YELLOW CORN MEAL, VEGETABLE SHORTENING (PALM OIL, SOYBEAN OIL), MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, DRIED HONEY, WHEAT STARCH, CALCIUM STEARATE, SOY LECITHIN, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SALT, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, BAKING SODA, ETHOXYLATED MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, DEXTROSE, MALTODEXTRIN, ...

Parents can help prevent infant botulism by not giving their baby honey or any processed foods that contain honey (like honey graham crackers) until after their child's first birthday. Light and dark corn syrups also might contain botulism-causing bacteria, but a link hasn't been proved.

While on its own, Southern cornbread may be underwhelming, it's neutral flavor and crumbly texture make it the perfect vessel to soak up liquidy foods, like cranberry sauce or turkey gravy. Or, it can be eaten on its own, perhaps mixed with gooey cheese or spicy jalapeños.

Northern Cornbread: History and Recipe

She notes that Northern cornbread is sweeter, lighter, and more cake-like than Southern cornbread. Not surprisingly, it includes sugar (or molasses, in the earlier centuries), unlike traditional Southern cornbread.

In 1892, a Times correspondent, after enumerating the many types of corn-based breads eaten in Virginia, noted, "It will be observed that in none of them is sugar used. There are cornmeal puddings served with sweet sauces, but no Southern cook would risk the spoiling of her cornbreads by sweetening them."

If they're willing to bear the shame of slipping a tad of sugar into their cornbread batter, things could incrementally change. But generally, the no-sugar rule still stands. Those who really need a surge of sugary flavor can, for goodness sake, just add some honey or sorghum molasses after the fact.

Early cornbread consisted of cornmeal, water, and salt and was baked over a fire or in a hearth. Without milk, eggs, or sugar, early versions of the bread were quite different than what we eat today, but they offered a vital source of energy.