Corn Muffins
Corn is an abundant and relatively inexpensive grain. Originating in the Americas, American Indians and Spaniards called it maiz. In Italian it is mais or grano. An inexpensive Italian peasant food food derived from corn is polenta a cornmeal mush that can be baked, fried or grilled. American ingenuity has turned polenta into a gourmet food worthy enough to be offered by high-end restaurants.
European settlers to the New World used abundant cornmeal has a substitute for wheat and other grains not yet available in the Americas. Cornbread became and still is a signature part of Southern United States cuisine.
There are numerous cornbread recipes, but they typically fall into two categories; sweet or savory. The recipe on this sight has a lighter texture is sweet. The sugar can be omitted for a savory cornbread.
My mother who grew up in Italy with sometimes noting to eat but polenta like this sweet cornbread recipe.
One of its ingredients is corn flour which is usually available at health food and specialty stores that sell bulk flours. If it is not available, substitute all-purpose flour.
Baking powder provides 70 percent of the sodium in this recipe. I do not add salt. If you are on a low sodium diet, you can reduce the amount of sodium per muffin by using un-salted butter and reducing baking powder by half. Less baking powder will produce heavier muffins but they will still be lighter then traditional corn muffins and bread.