Why is wheat flour more popular than corn flour? [closed]

Why is wheat flour more popular than corn flour? [closed] - Brown Chips on Brown Textile

If I understand correctly, one of the major reasons that corn syrup is so popular is that it made corn syrup cheaper than sugar. This makes sense to me.

However, it seems odd to me that this never really happened with corn flour/cornmeal vs wheat flour. While they definitely taste different, they still can often fill similar roles, and assuming that corn flour was cheaper, I'd expect it to gradually take over recipes in the US.

Was US-subsidized corn flour not cheaper than wheat flour? Was there another reason corn flour didn't take over?

(I'm obviously not talking about countries south of the US, where corn is everywhere)

historycornmeal


Best Answer

They are functionally quite different. Corn flour does not contain gluten, so is not useful as a direct substitute. It has little to nothing to do with cost.



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Is wheat flour better than corn flour?

Wheat flour is richer than corn flour in protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals and calories. Whole wheat flour is healthier than corn flour. However, this largely depends on the recipe and the dish it is used in.

Is corn better than wheat?

Corn is a great source of potassium, which is said to help lower blood pressure, and it's a better source of antioxidants than wheat, rice or oats. It's especially high in carotenoids, the antioxidants that help keep your eyes healthy. And naturally, corn is high in fibre.

Why is wheat flour unique?

Wheat flour doughs are also unique in their ability to retain gas. This property appears to result from a slow rate of gas diffusion in the dough. The third major unique property of wheat flour doughs is their ability to set in the oven during baking, and thereby to produce a rigid loaf of bread.

Is corn flour healthier than flour?

However, you may wonder whether corn or flour tortillas are the healthier choice....Nutritional profiles.Corn tortillaFlour tortillaCalories95.9138Carbs19.6 grams22.2 gramsProtein2.51 grams3.69 gramsFat1.25 grams3.6 grams5 more rows


Corn Flour vs Wheat Flour: Which is Better? 🤔 #Shorts



More answers regarding why is wheat flour more popular than corn flour? [closed]

Answer 2

To some extent corn did replace wheat flour, for a while, and in a limited area (now Virginia, the Carolinas etc.).

Before cheap transportation within what's now the USA, cornbread was a way of using native American maize (and Native American methods) to make a substitute for European-style breads.

The thing is (and this comes back to moscafj's answer) that cornbread fulfils only some of the role of wheat bread - a cheap portable source of carbohydrate, which is also quite easy to prepare. It's less robust (compared to a loaf used as a bread bowl, or a sop, for example).

Water and later especially rail transport of wheat grown in the Great Plains meant affordable wheat was available where maize was most consumed

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