Cornmeal

Cornmeal is used a great deal in Caribbean cooking for ‘pastelles’ or ‘hallacas’ (cornmeal steamed in a banana leaf; the name varies from island to island, as does the filling), coocoo (cornmeal and okra pudding), bread, made into dumplings and desserts (‘pone’ and ‘duckanoo’) and cooked like polenta (‘turned cornmeal’).