Indian Corn Pudding
12 Years ago a new macrobiotic cookbook by Alex and Gale Jack appeared entitled Amber Waves of Grain. Among the many unique recipes found here, my favorite has always been their one for Indian Corn Pudding. Taking the original recipe, I have continuously made many different variations of it over the years, here is my most recent version made a few days ago.
4 - 5 Servings
Ingredients:
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- 3 cups apple juice
- apricots, a handful
- poppy seeds
- fresh cranberries, a few handfuls
- Agave syrup, two tablespoons
- Pinch of
 sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon or orange rind
Instructions:
Add the apple juice to the pot, then Wisk in the cornmeal. Now add the other ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil, while stirring occasionally, then once you reach a boil, lower your flame to low, and cook for 20 minutes while still continuing to occasionally stir.
I am a big fan of Suzanne's rice syrup, which is my sweetener of choice. She has many different types available and each adds its own unique signature to the dessert when used. Agave Syrup or nectar is one of her newest ones. This was my first time using it, and it added a sweet but not overpowering taste to the dessert. Other times I have used her maple or chocolate flavored syrups for a different taste. Mind you that neither is actually using real maple syrup or chocolate, but I swear they taste just like it.
Back to the agave syrup that I used. The agave (uh-gah-vay) plant has long been cultivated in hilly, semi-arid soils of Mexico. Its fleshy leaves cover the pineapple-shaped heart of the plant, which contains a sweet sticky juice. Ancient Mexicans considered the plant to be sacred. They believed the liquid from this plant purified the body and soul. When the Spaniards arrived, they took the juices from the agave and fermented them, leading to the drink we now call tequila.
But there is a more interesting use for this historic plant. Agave syrup (or nectar) is about 90% fructose. Only recently has it come in use as a sweetener. It has a low glycemic level and therefore it is a great tasting substitute for other sweeteners. Unlike the crystalline form of fructose, which is refined primarily from corn, agave syrup is fructose in its natural form. This nectar does not contain processing chemicals. Even better, because fructose is sweeter than table sugar, less is needed in your recipes. It can be most useful for people who are diabetic, have insulin resistance (Syndrome X), or are simply watching their carbohydrate intake.
Variations:
Gale Jack’s original recipe used walnuts, this time I did not use them, but if you do, you would want to dry roast them first. Instead of walnuts, other times I have tried pecans, filberts, or hazelnuts. Also the original recipe used lemon rind rather than orange which I used this time, and raisins rather than apricots. Other times I have used blue cornmeal rather than yellow, or added cinnamon to the recipe too. The last time I made it, for a change I used fresh apple cider as it is now in season. As you can see, this recipe is infinitely flexible, you just can't make a bad cornmeal pudding using the basic recipe that Gale Jack has given us.
Please visit the Jack's web site, Amber Waves of Grain. Leading the Campaign to Save Organic Rice and Wheat. Let’s hope in the near future, this wonderful macrobiotic cookbook will once again be available as it is currently out of print.
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