Cornbread: A Family Treasure
The secret ingredient in Mary Alice Delk’s Corn Light Bread can’t be measured or stirred. The special touch that sets the recipe apart is its history – it came from Delk’s grandmother.
“Mama’s Old-Fashion Corn Light Bread is a 100-year-old recipe,” Delk says. “My mother, Elva Whiteside, made it a lot. It was her mother’s recipe. My mother, who lived to be 102, made it in a cast-iron dinner pot.”
The recipe is included in the Country Classics Volume II cookbook, published by the Tennessee Farm Bureau Women and now in its second printing.
When she submitted the recipe, Delk says, she had to “translate” her mother’s measurements into modern-day terms.
“She added lard the size of an egg,” and amounts of other ingredients were based on her instincts and experience, Delk says. “She knew how it was supposed to look and started adding to it as needed.”
Delk says her daughter, Elizabeth Ann Kelley, who works for the Farm Bureau, has fond memories of her grandmother cooking Corn Light Bread and ham on Saturday night to take to a gospel meeting the next day.
The tantalizing aroma drew her downstairs to sample the tasty treat when it came out of the oven, Delk says.
“I grew up on a farm in Hampshire,” says Delk, who now lives in Spring Hill. “My Daddy had mules and raised tobacco, corn, clover and things like that. We had fruit trees, too. When I married, I moved to Kettle Mills to my husband’s family farm.”
View the recipe: Mama’s Old-Fashioned Cornbread
I found at an estate sale a recipe box that had a wrapper off of…..
Simply Great Tennessee Corn Lightbread..All Natural, no Preservaties or Additives….you could reorder from The Specialties Group Brentwood Tennessee 37027 that was the only address…phone 1-205-759-1015 or 1-615-371-8049 can’t find anthing on the internet about this, would you know anything about it? probably not made anymore…just wondering….thanks….Mrs. Riedmiller rriedmiller@cox.net
There used to be a little restrung in Franklin TN called Herbert’s BBQ,that had the best corn light bread I have ever had. Closed now. I crave it but nothing comes close
Does anyone have the recipe for Herbert bbq corn light bread?
The secret to their corn light bread was light Karo syrup. Whitt’s bought the recipe when Herbert’s closed. There are some people that used to work at Herbert’s that still have the recipe. My ex mother in law worked there and was related to the owners before it was bought out by a guy named Ben.
It’s hard to find a recipe with corn light syrup….
Definitely hard to find! I am wondering if you can just substitute the same amount of corn syrup for the sugar in a recipe. Sure wish that someone who knows would share their knowledge.
The best cornbread I’ve EVER had (life-long southerner) was made at One Stop Cafe in Franklin, TN. I wish I could find the recipe. For any other cornbread, I can tell by looking at it whether it is any good. And chances are, it’s not.
One Stop also uses light Kari syrup.
Definitely hard to find! I am wondering if you can just substitute the same amount of corn syrup for the sugar in a recipe. Sure wish that someone who knows would share their knowledge.
Now you know the secret!!! But it has to be the light syrup.
Jessica,
Can you please post the recipe that One Stop and Herbert’s used?
Thank you!