The internet is full of fabulous facts. Everything from current events to the history basket weaving and grits fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Grits fun facts.

Grits Fun Facts: Grits are a ground-corn food of Native American origin, that is common in the Southern United States and eaten mainly at breakfast. Modern grits are commonly made of alkali-treated corn known as hominy.

  • Grits have their origins in Native American corn preparation. Traditionally, the hominy for grits was ground by a stone mill. The results are passed through screens, with the finer sifted materials being grit meal, and the coarser being grits. Many communities in the United States used a gristmill until the mid-twentieth century, with families bringing their own corn to be ground, and the miller retaining a portion of the corn as a fee.
  • Three-quarters of grits sold in the U.S. are sold in the South. The area stretches from Texas to Virginia, sometimes referred to as the “grits belt”.
  • The state of Georgia declared grits its official prepared food in 2002.
  • “Charleston-style grits” are boiled in milk instead of water, giving them a creamy consistency.
  • Grits are usually either yellow or white, depending on the color of corn. 

Key Dates

  • January 22nd is National Southern Food Day.
  • September 2nd is National “Eat Grits” Day.

Grits fun facts we missed?

Let us know if we may have missed some grits fun facts in the comment section or our food truck forum. If we can verify the facts we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Grits.

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.