Apple pie gets the spotlight, but there may be no dish more quintessentially American than cornbread. The star comfort food is a staple of holiday tables as well as a seasonal stalwart accompaniment to chili and other stews (and to barbecued meats year-round).
And while there’s a maze of offerings on the grocery store shelf, commercially available mixes are a distinctly mixed bag. Some are to be avoided, and several are worth seeking out. But in our quest to determine which mixes deserve a place in your carts, we encountered an interesting phenomenon. More than perhaps any other category of products we’ve tasted, people’s ideas of what constitutes the optimal cornbread varied widely. Should it be dryer or more moist? Cake-like or more dense? And most contentious of all: Does sugar belong in cornbread?
Americans’ opinions vary, often along regional lines — and so did those of our panel of eight tasters. Those brought up on Southern-style cornbread gravitated toward a more savory recipe, while others preferred the sweeter versions. And while we might not have reached consensus every time, we at least homed in on the qualities that set each brand apart, which brings to mind the old Fox News slogan: “We report. You decide.”
To test the range of options for many home cooks, we selected nine widely available products, including the top-selling brands of baking mixes. To prepare them, we followed the instructions on the package, using visual cues when offered a range of cooking times. We conducted a blind test in which eight of our colleagues were given nine samples without knowing what brands they were tasting. They gave each a score of 1 to 10, taking into account appearance, texture and overall flavor, meaning each sample had a possible high score of 80 and a low of 8.
Per their corny evaluations, here’s which brands we think should be tossed on their ears, and which are worth stalk-ing:
9. Martha White Yellow Cornbread & Muffin Mix
Score: 11
Our tasters were unanimous in detesting this flat-as-a-pancake sample. “Giving manila envelope,” complained one. “Flattest of the bunch, rose the least,” noted another. A couple wondered if this was a gluten-free option (It’s not). It seemed clear that the mix wasn’t destined for loftiness when the batter went in the pan — at a skimpy 6.5 ounces of dry ingredients, it barely covered the bottom of the 8 x 8 pan it called for. (The instructions also provide guidance for doubling the recipe, which might provide better results.) But it wasn’t just that it didn’t rise to the occasion — the brand similarly flopped on the flavor front. Several tasted a bitter note (“baking soda?” one wondered) and some also found it to be overly salty.
(Price: $1.58/6.5 ounces at Food Lion)
8. Betty Crocker Cornbread & Muffin Mix
Score: 26
Another “low-rise” bread, and the only other one with a scant 6.5 ounces in the package, that several thought was unpleasantly hard. Tasters also found this entrant to be terminally bland, lacking in either sweetness or salt. “Maybe the sweeter ones are killing my ability to appreciate the subtlety of this one,” one taster mused. “More likely: It’s just not great.”
(Price: $2.25/6.5 ounces at Walmart)
7. Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Score: 32
This classic, retro-looking box is the go-to for many families. But even one taster who swore ahead of the test that it was her favorite didn’t wind up loving it as much as she thought in the blind tasting. Several people praised it for having a modicum of corn flavor (one taster even said it was “stronger corn flavor than I prefer”), but the prevalent knock on this classic was that it was “dry” and “crumbly.” “So dry, it tastes like I’m biting into Ikea particle board,” one lamented.
(Price: $1.19/8.5 ounces at Wegmans)
6. Bob’s Red Mill Golden Cornbread Baking Mix
Score: 36
Two tasters proclaimed the interior of this relatively tall sample to be “gummy,” with another opining that it was the “most bready and least cake-like” of the bunch. Several people liked the “nicely cracked top” that gave it a little cornmeal-y crunch. But others were turned off by its pale hue and lackluster looks.
(Price: $5.59/16 ounces at Fresh Market)
5. 365 Cornbread & Muffin Mix
Score: 37
People liked the lofty, tall rise on this brand. The crumb was “nice and plush,” said one. But people’s divergent expectations for cornbread really started showing up here. This organic entrant was on the less-sweet end of the spectrum, and that seemed to earn it dings from people who thought it was wishy-washy. “Almost no sweetness,” noted one. “For folks who like their cornbread salty, this might be nice,” said another. “But I prefer a mix of sweet and salty.”
(Price: $3.24/15 ounces at Whole Foods)
4. Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix
Score: 38
Whole kernels of corn distinguished this corn-testant from the rest of the field. People mostly liked the effect, which offered visual interest and a varied texture. But several were given pause by a too-sweet, off flavor, with people clocking a “synthetic sugary aftertaste,” something “metallic” and a sweetness that felt “filmy” on one tester’s teeth. An examination of the ingredients suggests that they were probably picking up on the unusual presence of vanilla (it shows up in both powder and extract form) in the baking mix.
(Price: $2.99/15 ounces at Trader Joe’s)
3. Duncan Hines Dolly Parton’s Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix
Score: 48
Our panel found this cornbread to be — like its namesake — sunny and sweet, with a distinctive yellow hue (which, unlike Dolly’s blond tresses, is all-natural). “Soft on the inside, but crunchy on the outside,” said one taster, who appreciated the variation in consistency. And a couple liked that the crumb included a detectable, coarse grind of cornmeal. Several people, though, thought it was a little too dense overall.
(Price: $3.75/16 ounces at Publix)
2. Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Baking Mix Cornbread
Score: 51
Several tasters really dug this one, calling out its pleasantly browned surface and prominent corn flavor. “The cornbread I imagine when I think of cornbread,” one enthused. “Melts in the mouth,” according to one. But again, the level of sweetness was an issue, and a couple marked it down for being too sweet, which probably kept it from the top spot. “Is this a holdover from our boxed cake mix test?” one wondered.
(Price: $2.99/15 ounces at Harris Teeter)
1. Krusteaz Sweet Corn Muffin & Cornbread Mix
Score: 54
Another sweetie, but one that the crowd loved. “Dessert-y, and not in a bad way,” said one. This one had some dimension in its sugar, with tasters appreciating notes of caramel and butter. Several testers noticed that even though it was moist, fluffy and cake-like, the mixture still boasted a bit of cornmeal grittiness throughout. “Kinda gritty, but in a good way,” as one described it. The bottom crust was crisp, several said, offering a welcome variation from the rest of the slice. Overall, it was a rare sample that nearly all our tasters liked. “Just a solid side,” said one.
(Price: $3.99/16 ounces at Safeway)
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