True Grits

Due in large part to my sheltered life, I must confess that I've never had, if you'll pardon the pun, true grits. But I recently read an article in Country Living magazine (yes, I've just outed myself as a subscriber) about mills that still produce authentic products. We went online and ordered antebellum yellow quick grits, rustic aromatic buckwheat flour, heirloom rye flour, and purple cape dried beans. So far we've had a buckwheat pancake breakfast and the deep malty flavor was unlike anything I've had before (I've tried buckwheat pancakes at IHOP and they're apparently made to suit the “northern” palate). And we've made two batches of grits with just a pinch of black pepper, a pat of butter on top, drizzled with pure maple syrup and a splash of Half & Half. Grits are now our favorite hot cereal. We're next looking forward to fresh loaves of rye and pumpernickel. The site we ordered from is: ansonmills.com, in South Carolina, Country Living March 2013. Now all you Yankees have no excuse not to try some down home recipes from south of the Mason Dixon line!