From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grits
Grits is a type of maize porridge and a food common in the Southern United States consisting of coarsely ground corn. This is similar to many other thick maize-based porridges from around the world, described under the article on polenta. It also has a lesser resemblence to farina, a thinner porridge. Also can be made with fermented plantains; coarsely ground.
Hominy grits is another term for grits, but explicitly refers to grits made from nixtamalized corn, or hominy.
Origins
Traditionally the maize for grits is ground by a stone mill. The results are passed through screens, with the finer part being corn meal, and the coarser being grits. Many communities in the Southern U.S. used a gristmill up until the mid-20th century, with families bringing their own corn to be ground, and the miller retaining a portion of the corn for his fee. In South Carolina, state law requires grits and corn meal to be enriched, similar to the requirements for flour, unless the grits are ground from corn where the miller keeps part of the product for his fee.
Three-quarters of grits sold in the United States are sold in the "grits belt" stretching from Louisiana to North Carolina. South Carolina declared grits its state food in 1973, writing, "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.'"
The word "grits" comes from Old English grytta meaning a coarse meal of any kind. Yellow grits include the whole kernel, while white grits use hulled kernels. Grits are prepared by simply boiling into a porridge; normally they are boiled until enough water evaporates to leave them semi-solid. They are traditionally served during breakfast, but can be used at any meal.
Is "grits" plural?
Until recently, "grits" was considered singular, and is still singular in correct usage. (Compare "measles", "mumps", and in the food world, "spaghetti", "ravioli", and "fettuccine", which are plural in form but take a singular verb; one does not say "mumps are" or "spaghetti are".) People from outside the Southern U.S., not familiar with grits, often treated "grits" as a plural noun because of its form. Because this error was printed and seen everywhere, this usage became more common. "In the American South, where grits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is epidemic, the plural noun takes the always singular verb". To slyly make this point, Lillian Hellman (a Louisiana native) included in her play The Little Foxes a line in which the central figure, Regina, tells her butler "Take this grits back, it's gotten cold."
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