Polenta

The word ‘polenta’ comes from the Latin for ‘hulled barley’ and refers to a thick porridge that today is most commonly made from white or yellow cornmeal. This wasn’t always the case though, as corn was one of the many foods Christopher Columbus brought back to Europe from The Americas in the 16th century. Before that, polenta lavagna, made from the local buckwheat, was the staple on the Lombardian table. Today we still enjoy buckwheat polenta and sometimes also use a mixture of cornmeal and buckwheat.