Three Rivers Is Back

After more than a decade off the grocery shelves, Three Rivers Cornbread Mix has returned, and cooks all over East Tennessee are celebrating. Folks of a certain age remember Three Rivers as the cornbread mix their mothers and grandmothers used.

Three Rivers was originally a product of White Lily Foods, a milling company that J. Allen Smith brought to Knoxville in 1873. The "three rivers" epithet refers to Knoxville's location near the confluence of the Holston and French Broad, which forms the Tennessee River.

In 2008, White Lily was purchased by Smucker's. They closed the Knoxville plant, but continued to produce the White Lily brand in two other mills in the Southeast. White Lily is made only from Southern soft summer wheat. This wheat has less protein and more starch than other varieties, and consequently has the ability to absorb more liquid or fat when used in a recipe. It therefore makes the flakiest biscuits and pie crusts imaginable.

The Three Rivers brand did not survive the transition to Smucker's initially. White Lily started making its own brand of cornbread mix. The mix was passable, but not at all like Three Rivers. Three Rivers has a higher proportion of cornmeal to wheat flour, and the cornmeal is more finely ground than in White Lily. The taste is different, also, with Three Rivers having a richer "corn" flavor.

Recently, the Three Rivers brand returned, making its way to Food City stores from a White Lily Foods distribution center in Jackson, Tennessee. A little searching revealed that Ingle's, a regional chain from Asheville, NC, has also begun carrying Three Rivers.

If you want to experience what cornbread is supposed to taste like, pick up a bag of Three Rivers, and use the following recipe:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet with oil or bacon drippings and place it in the oven. It needs to be smoking hot when you pour in the cornbread batter.

Put 2 cups of Three Rivers in a large bowl. In a second bowl, combine one egg, 1/4 cup oil, and 1 cup of whole milk. Make a well in the meal, and pour in the liquids all at once. Stir until combined, adding a little more milk if needed to make a thick, pourable batter.

Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Pour in the batter; it should sizzle. Return the skillet to the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the sides have pulled away from the skillet. Cut into wedges and serve at once with plenty of butter.