Down the Rabbit Hole to Food Utopia

Here we deep dive into an ingredient or recipe or a food-related something. But just doing that opens sooo many more interesting "holes." I just looked over the edge to a couple of them. The starting point?

MARSH HEN MILLS

Courtesy of Marsh Hen Mills

Marsh Hen Mills

I intended to have this article start the Best of Shelf column, where I highlight a wonderful item from the pantry. While researching my chosen product, I fell Down the Rabbit Hole to Food Utopia. So Marsh Hen Mills Speckled Grits took me on different paths, but in the end, it is a great ingredient you are going to want to add to your pantry right now, actually you can, right now, click HERE.

Once again, I found myself looking for a ZZest Market favorite. Chef Justin bought in stone-ground polenta for ZZest Cafe, and sometimes there were just a few extra bags we could sell in the market. I loved this polenta! The taste was slightly nutty and rich, yet the *grits/polenta were creamy and delectable. Unfortunately, since I could only get the polenta from time to time, I didn’t research much beyond that. 

Wait, what’s the difference between polenta and grits? For that, I went straight to a Masterclass. So, here we are at Rabbit Hole #1, because once reading about grits and polenta… I saw What is Brunch…

From the Masterclass site—

Both grits recipes and polenta are made from stoneground cornmeal, which is dried corn that has been ground down into a coarse or fine material. However, they differ based on the type of corn used and the fineness of the grind to give them unique textures and flavors.

• Type of corn: Grits and polenta are made with different types of corn that provide different textures. Grits are traditionally made using dent corn, while polenta is made with a variety of Italian flint corn known as otto file. Flint corn is harder than dent corn, and it holds its shape better.

• Flavor: Polenta typically has a subtle floral taste coming from the flint corn, while grits have a stronger corn flavor from the dent corn.

• Color: Traditionally, polenta is made with yellow corn to create a yellow porridge, while grits are made with white corn to create a white porridge. However, grits are sometimes made from yellow corn, resulting in “yellow grits.”

• Texture: Traditional polenta cornmeal goes through a repeated milling process that yields a uniform size and texture. Traditional coarse grits are made with a single-pass milling process that yields variation in the size of corn particles.

• Place of origin: Polenta originated in northern Italy, while grits hail from the southern United States.

Craving those bags of polenta and wishing for Shrimp and Grits we served at Porch, I started to look for what I could remember about the brand. I ran across Marsh Hen Mill. There was something about the brand that seemed familiar. Well, sort of. I thought I remembered the brand we had being Geechie Boy. 

Rabbit Hole #2 

Looking into Geechie Boy Mill, there was a lot to see. Quickly, I understood Marsh Hen Mill was indeed a rebrand of Geechie Boy Grits. I found this article very interesting from so may perspectives. Here’s the link  The Post and Courier. I might be so bold to add, though it seems easy enough to declare the right thing to do on the sidelines, it’s also important to understand the process for business owners, it is that, a process. 

To learn more about Marsh Hen Mills, I continued my search using Geechie Boy Grits to bring up more information. What a small world! I have a subscription to The Local Palate Food Culture of the South. Yes, I love southern foods, I love the history and charm of the South, and I visited Charleston and ate myself silly while admiring the architecture. But why would I have a subscription to a southern magazine? It is a gorgeous publication but also because, at Lettuce Unite, we had our knives sharpened by the Carisolo Company. RH #3. I’m finding now Carisolo has a wonderful rich family history and business. I don’t recall the name of the person that delivered and picked up the knives but he was so nice would often bring me a copy of The Local Palate. I believe he had a friend that was involved in the magazine. So there you go! I recommend reading an excellent article by The Local Plate about Greg and Betsy Johnsman, the husband-wife team behind Marsh Hen Mill! No Grits, No Glory.

At Food Union we carry Speckled Grits. Marsh Hen Mills has the same philosophy we do. Flavor comes first! They make it even more exciting and more delicious by using heirloom products to mill the finest grits. The Heirloom Speckled Grits are stone ground. If you read The Local Palate article, you will see how important that is to flavor and the health benefits. Non-GMO heirloom corns are used with no added preservatives or chemicals. This is a perfect mixture of white and yellow grits that give you a slightly different flavor profile than either one has on its own. The specks you see in the grits are called pins, which are the ends of the corn kernels where they attach to the cob. 

All this is produced on their farm on Edisto Island, which on its own has a fascinating history. I’ll let you go out on your own for that. It is a must-visit place when I return to Charleston. And a visit to Marsh Hen Mill will be in order as Food Union is the ONLY retail store in Minnesota to carry their grits.

The recommended cooking mixture is 1 cup of grits to 4 cups of water, plus butter and salt to taste. Cooking time depends on the recipe, usually an hour. 

Check out the simple Shrimp and Grits recipe on the Marsh Hen Mill website. 

This is Porch Shrimp and Grits

Want to make it like Porch? 

About 10 minutes before the grits are ready, add a good handful of shredded sharp cheddar and some fresh minced herbs. Our favorite combo at Porch was fresh thyme, parsley, and rosemary. 

While the grits are cooking, make these additions to the “gravy.”

Justin added chopped bell peppers to the onions and tomatoes. He also used chicken stock in place of the white wine. In addition, he added a drizzle of brewed cooled coffee and smoke jus (we mortals will not have this, it was accumulated from the many pork butts that smoked n our smokers, sorry). At the end of cooking the gravy, add harissa paste or sauce to your liking. 

Marsh Hen Mills has lots of great items. We are hoping to get some excitement going so we can add more. We did get Hot Pickled Okra which is perfect for a Bloody Mary garnish. What is Brunch? I can answer that for you. Shrimp and Grits and Bloody Mary’s!