Mush (cornmeal)

This article is about the food item. For other uses, see mush.

Cornmeal mush

Mush — sometimes called coosh — is a thick cornmeal pudding (or porridge) usually boiled in water or milk. It is often allowed to set, or gel into a semi solid, then cut into flat squares or rectangles, and pan fried. Usage is especially common in the eastern and southeastern United States. It is also customary for those in the Midwestern US to eat it with maple syrup. In Eastern Europe instead of boiling in milk, it is poured over the meal once served and cooled down. Corn meal mush is often consumed in Latin America and Africa.

It has been considered synonymous, perhaps erroneously, with other dishes:

"Thee the soft nations round the warm Levant

Palanta call, the French of course Polante;

E'en in thy native regions how I blush

To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee Mush!

On Hudson's banks, while men of Belgic spawn

Insult and eat thee by the name suppawn.

All spurious appellations; void of truth:

I've better known thee from my earliest youth,

Thy name is Hasty-Pudding!

“

”

The Hasty-Pudding, Joel Barlow, 1793

See also

• Cornbread
• Grits
• Gruel
• Hominy
• Hushpuppy
• Jonnycake
• Polenta
• Pudding Corn

References

• Fussell, Betty Harper (1992). The Story of Corn. New York: Knopf. p. 231. ISBN 0394578058. 
• "American Civil War Recipes and Cooking". AmericanCivilWar.com. 15 May 2009. http://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/civil_war_cooking.html. Retrieved 2009-07-16. 
• Willie Crawford (17 December 2002). "More Soulful Recipes". The Chitterling Site. http://www.chitterlings.com/17dec02.html#coosh. Retrieved 2009-07-15.