How far north can you buy grits in a regular grocery store?

[raccoon]

I'll start; in upstate SC you can (no surprise).

Please chime in here!

[suninvited]

1. I know that in New York grits are not on the breakfast menu

at least the bed and breakfast I was at in Binghamton they werent.

I was also surprised when I ordered tea that I got a little pitcher of hot water, a tea bag and a cup. I just wanted a glass of iced tea. The server looked confused when I asked for a glass of ice for my tea.

[MrsMatt]

45. up north you have to ask for iced tea

if you want iced tea.

If you just ask for tea, it will be hot.

[eShirl]

57. So when you order tea in the South, they bring you ice cold tea?

The server was confused that you didn't order iced tea if you wanted iced tea, btw.

[meow2u3]

71. I've lived in both the North and the South

Up north, if you want tea, they serve you hot tea unless you specify you want iced tea. Northern "regular" iced tea is presweetened and with lemon, unless it's "diet" (presweetened with stevia, Splenda, or another alternative sweetener). Besides, you have to be specific how you want your iced tea if you don't like lemon and/or sugar.

Down south, if you want tea, it's brewed, unsweetened iced tea unless you specify otherwise. You have to ask for sweet tea or hot tea by name.

Take it from someone who's live on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

[raccoon]

2. OK, let me try to make this easier. Can you NOT find grits in regular grocery stores in your area?

For instance, "I live in Iqaluit, Nunavut, and they don't sell grits in the grocery stores here."

[eShirl]

3. anyplace there's a Walmart

[raccoon]

4. Really? Where you are?!? nt

[eShirl]

56. oh yes... Quaker instant butter flavored grits

it was not entirely unlike Cream of Rice

[mulsh]

5. Up until a few years ago I would bring grits to friends in SF.

until around 2000 none of the southerners I knew over there could find grits in their grocery stores, not even the Church St. Safeway ( a major meeting place in the Castro) So I'd pick up grits and bring them over from Oakland, a truly diverse and refined city. I haven't had a request for grits in a few years.

[Bucky]

6. If I didn't have access to grits, I would die. Die, I tell you.

Grits make life worth living.

[raccoon]

8. I could live without grits, but don't know if I could live without sweet tea. nt

[old mark]

11. OK, now what exactly IS "Sweet Tea"? I see that a lot, but don't know what it is...nt

[raccoon]

12. It's when you add the sugar right after you brew it and pour it in the pitcher

or other container.

It's never the same if you add the sugar at the table....

[dgibby]

72. Shrimp and Grits with Tasso Gravy

Nom, Nom, Nom!

[MineralMan]

7. You can buy them in the breakfast foods aisle of any Cub Foods

supermarket in Minnesota. Instant or traditional. I make 'em when guests are in town from southern states. Personally, I detest grits, and won't eat them, but they're available everywhere, I think.

I even found Poke Salet in the canned vegetables section of my local Cub Foods. Served some of that up one evening to some friends with fried chicken.

Regional foods are pretty much everywhere.

[HopeHoops]

9. I never had any trouble finding them in NH - and every Waffle House serves them.

[old mark]

10. I see them all the time in grocery stores here in South East PA...

we are the South of the North. Walmart has several brands and most other big stores carryat least Quaker brand.
I see them all the time, but I never eat them since I tried them when I was in the Army...I thought they were farina...
I learned to LOVE black eyed peas, though, and all types of greens...
But you can keep grits..

mark

[astral]

13. Grits are ground up corn, right?

Do you eat them like oatmeal? Why can't you live without them? How do they get used? Are they cheap?

I have never seen them that I know of but have not looked for them.

[raccoon]

16. Yes, not exactly, I can. They are usually eaten with butter, salt, & pepper,

but you can eat them with gravy.


Yes, they are cheap!

[Bake]

40. They're good that way, but I love 'em with redeye gravy

And country ham ...

MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

BTW, I'm in Kentucky, on the OH river.

Bake

[JitterbugPerfume]

51. redeye gravy is food for the gods

[orleans]

52. i had to google redeye gravy--never heard of it--

and the article also mentioned something called tomato gravy from florida

[Bake]

59. Redeye gravy, you MUST taste it to believe it.

Made from the fry drippings of country ham. Just add a little water and coffee in the skillet. Pour over grits. Enjoy.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Bake

[kentauros]

27. Actually, they're ground up

hominy corn. There's a difference, just like there's a difference between the cornmeal used to make cornbread and the kind used to make polenta (at least in my experience making both) ;)

[jobycom]

32. They are ground hominy, usually, though that varies.

In the deep South, like Mississippi and Louisiana, they are made from hominy, which is corn that has been chemically dehulled (same as posole). I've seen places on the east coast, like South Carolina, sell regular ground corn as grits, so I think there's a regional interpretation involved.

I've seen non-southerners try to pass off polenta or even cornmeal as grits. Bobs Mill packages something as "Grits" or "Polenta," for instance, but they aren't the same thing. Grits is coarser, and has a grittier texture, than polenta, aside from being made with hominy instead of plain corn.

Grits is usually a thick porridge you eat with breakfast, salted and buttered. It tastes bland without salt, but as with corn, salt gives it a stronger flavor. It doesn't taste at all like oatmeal or wheat based porridges, which have a cardboard flavor. You eat it with eggs, as a side dish, usually, not by itself like oatmeal. A lot of people mix their eggs into the grits when eating.

I've eaten grits in New York and a couple of places in the north or west, and they have never been right, because they tried to make the grits into an oatmeal or cream of wheat style dish. It was runny and bland, and always too hard, and probably instant.

You can also mix in other things to make grits into a dinner or supper item, like cheese, jalepenos, brocolli, or whatever. Leftover grits hardens, like polenta, and you can cube and fry it and do all sorts of stuff with it. I've used it instead of rice with red beans, for instance, or just fried it and eaten it plain.

My own creation once was making mock fried oysters, by accident. I breaded chilled, cubed grits with ground flaxseed, cornmeal, and a few spices one would generally bread oysters with, and they came out with a taste and texture similar to fried oysters.

More than you wanted to know, probably. :)

[Rowdyboy]

63. Probably the most interesting and informative post I've read this week but then

I'm southern too. The mock oysters sound really good. Its going on my list...

[jobycom]

65. I was wondering about you the other day.

We must hang around different forums nowadays. :hi:

[Rowdyboy]

66. My friend I haven't been around very much...life here is keeping us pretty busy

but I really can't seem to quit this place. Even when I don't post I lurk-I probably post more in the GLBT forum than anywhere else but I'm still here! Glad to see you are too

:toast:

[old mark]

14. How far South can you get a pastrami sandwich?...nt

[raccoon]

17. I think you can get them in delis here. nt

[GoCubsGo]

28. Yes.

And, they sell pastrami in the deli section of any grocery store chain, such as Kroger and Publix, so you can make your own as you see fit.

[old mark]

31. I just did that for lunch, which is why I asked....thanks...nt

[LiberalEsto]

48. On real rye bread?

I was introduced to grits in college. I went to a newly-founded experimental state college in NJ that was about 1/3 minorities. They served grits at breakfast fairly often. People who liked grits taught me how to eat them with salt, pepper, butter and eggs. They were great. I don't eat them now because they're mainly carbohydrates.

[kentauros]

29. The better question would be

"How far South can you find street vendors selling soft pretzels?" ;)

Houston has either no street vendors or very very few (thanks to very strict city health ordinances...)

[old mark]

33. We will send you some from Philly, "health" be damned!...nt

[kentauros]

35. That's okay

:)

Houston is a very international city; I'm sure I can find some authentic ones somewhere ;)

[DBoon]

42. what? no bacon wrapped hot dog vendors?

nt

[kentauros]

43. No vendors of anything, really.

You'll see the guys on their sno-cone bikes and that's about it. There are plenty of taco trucks, though...

[MiddleFingerMom]

15. Grits were an occasional treat for us Yankees... and we never ate more than ONE grit at a time.

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As I remember, a grit is a small, juicy luscious fruit... usually
reserved for the very wealthy.
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"Oh, servant-girl," we would mimic those elitists, "Peel me a grit."
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I think they were outlawed up North in the mid-60's... with a first
conviction for the sale of a grit being a felony carrying a minimum
10-20 year prison term.
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In the Progressive South, they've decriminalized the sale of a grit
and even selling grits to minors only carries a penalty of indentured
servitude as a diner waitress wearing cats-eye rhinestone glasses
and cracking your gum loudly and calling people "Hon" and "Darlin'".
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Oh, and they DISGUISE each grit's identity by serving it with (yuck)
butter-and-black-pepper rather than milk-and-sugar (you would think
that was punishment enough).
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The "War on Grits" -- unlike the "War on Drugs" -- has actually been
relatively successful... at least in those communities that allow the
open sale of Cream of Wheat.
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[dr.strangelove]

18. I buy grits in NY every few weeks.

Despite being a "City Boy" I've always liked grits. I started buying them in Majors and Pathmark (which are/were NYC based grocery markets, Majors closed in the 80s) in the early 80s. I buy them at Stop and Shop or the A&P all the time. I've never been anywhere where grits were not available. I buy them in rural Vermont on vacation. I lived in Oregon for many years and bought them at Fred Myers. I've had them at diners all over the country. Grits

[Deep13]

19. Never tried, but I have to assume they are available.

There are people from the South living up here in Ohio.

[one_voice]

20. I'm in Delaware...

never an issue. I can find them in any grocery store and most restaurants. My dad is from Alabama and loves his grits, as do all of us.

[Bunny]

21. You can get grits in the stores in PA.

I'm a Yankee and I love grits! I was not raised on them, however. We were oatmeal people.

ETA - I never see them on restaurant breakfast menus here, though.

[spinbaby]

38. The selection is limited in PA

We have one, maybe two kinds of grits at the grocery store. In the south they have a huge selection of grits, including weird stuff like instant cheese grits.

[KamaAina]

22. Hawai'i actually had a grits incident

one of the few places to get 'em on the island was the Beretania St. Safeway. And they put out a bad batch. This was on local TV news! (they don't have nearly enough murder and mayhem to fill up the whole hour :-) )

That was also where the wife of an inactive DUer served them to me while I was over at their place watching F9/11. She tyried to explain to me what they were!! I had to politely inform her that I lived in NOLA for some years and knew perfectly well what they were.

[Heidi]

23. I can buy grits in Switzerland. So you might add "How far east?"

:hi:

:yum:

[raccoon]

24. We truly live in a global economy....nt

[bigwillq]

25. I think they sell them in CT.

I know some restaurants up here serve them.

[jobycom]

26. I can never find real grits even in Austin. I can find Instant or I can find polenta called grits

but I usually have to buy actual hominy grits when I go back to Mississippi.

[Texasgal]

60. I find them at HEB

all of the time. :shrug:

[jobycom]

64. Where?

I look every time I go. :shrug:

[Xithras]

30. What's a grit?

I though grit = dirt :shrug:

Is this like the clay eating thing?

[kentauros]

34. "I've never actually seen a grit before."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoRCsvYxoAw

:P

[av8rdave]

36. Doesn't that depend on which way the store faces?

[delunapark]

37. Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits-Pensacola,FL Fish House

Serves:
4
Ingredients:
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups Dixie Lily grits
¼ pound butter 1 can creamed corn (14 -16 ounces)
½ pound shredded smoked Gouda cheese
Instructions:
To cook your grits, run the chicken stock into a thick-bottomed saucepan and turn on high till it boils. Mix in the grits and stir like crazy. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cream if you need more liquid. Then tumble in the butter, drizzle in the rest of the cream, add the creamed corn and stir till it's all in the family. Then shake in the shredded cheese and stir very well till it's all nice and smooth.

[MiddleFingerMom]

41. Smoked Gouda is miraculous!!! It could make the bitter taste of defeat lip-smackin' good.

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It is the "bacon of cheeses".
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(Not to be confused with bacon being the "meat of Jesus".)
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(Despite that whole, you know... Jewish thing.)
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[LibertyLover]

39. We can get them in grocery stores in Annapolis, MD and in

some convenience stores, although the ones in convenience stores are of the instant variety and not, at least according to my born and bred in Baltimore husband, deserving of the name "grits".

[mcollins]

44. OK. What are grits exactly?

Must have grown up too far north.

[jmowreader]

62. Grits is coarsely-ground hominy meal...

You get them in a little bag. Put them in water--1 cup grits to 4 cups water--boil for 15-20 minutes and then do whatever you want to them.

Grits can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Google "shrimp and grits recipe."

[nolabear]

46. Seattle checking in!

I can find collards and okra too, thanks to the Indians, who do some damn fine things with them too. I must confess to using Quaker Instant Grits but hey, sue me.

[Moondog]

47. I saw them for sale in the early 80s in Holy Loch, Scotland.

at a US Navy submarine facility commissary. Which is pretty damned far north as it is at about the same latitude as Hudson Bay, Canada.

[liberaltrucker]

49. Butler, PA

Yep! And this transplanted Alabamian is VERY glad!

:)

[whistler162]

68. They have grits in Albania.....gjakftohtë

[JitterbugPerfume]

50. you can buy grits in Indiana

but other than in the southern part of the state I have never seen them on a menu

[Old Troop]

53. Some grocery stores in MA have them (quick grits though)

[trof]

54. Anchorage, Alaska.

How far north is that?
;-)

[Moondog]

55. Further north than Holy Loch.

[mysuzuki2]

58. Milwaukee

I buy 'em too! Yum.

[Danmel]

61. Supermarkets on long island have gtits

I'm the only one in the family who'll eat them though!

[Chan790]

67. I can answer this more simply...

now that Quaker considers them a core-lineup retail grocery item (for distributors, not public retailers), there is no place in the US where one can't buy Quaker brand quick grits in a grocery (because there is no distributor who having them foisted as the cost of being able to sell America's most popular brand of oats isn't going to turn around and do the same to public-facing retailers, rather than having them rot in his warehouse. Grocery is a cutthroat industry.)

To heck with groceries, I've seen them for sale at Cumberland Farms (a regional convenience store chain) in the most backwater podunk corners of New England where shelf-space is at a premium and they don't even carry many grocery staples like meat, cheese or non-mass-produced bread.

[stuntcat]

69. In Northern VA you can buy boxes of single-serve packs

with ten or twelve to a box. I don't like the packets so I have my Mom down in NC buy me a few boxes once in a while. I neeeed my grits :*

[meow2u3]

70. I've seen them in black sections of Philadelphia

They do sell grits in the predominantly African-American neighborhoods in Philly (southern roots, maybe?).
Personally, I don't like them; I'd rather have farina, but that's because I'm from the Northeast.

[last_texas_dem]

73. Grits ain't groceries!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DaaJ4EPYwI

(Sorry, I have no useful knowledge to contribute to the question, but I do have links to old soul songs on youtube!)

[Demoiselle]

74. Philadelphia, PA.

Really.

[Lyric]

75. You can get them in north-central WV.

We eat our grits in lots of different ways. Sometimes just salt, pepper and butter. Sometimes pepper, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheese. Sometimes with redeye gravy and fried ham. Sometimes with shrimp and hot pepper sauce. And sometimes (le gasp) we eat them SWEET, with butter, sugar, and a little milk.

:hi:

[AngryAmish]

76. Chicago.

It is pronounced po-len-ta

[texanwitch]

77. I don't like grits.

All of y'all can have my grits.

I do know people who eat grits everyday.