I’m listening to an audio book of an Agatha Christie/Miss Marple story (it’s the first story in The Thirteen Problems) when this term comes up. Apparently it’s a sort of porridge made (I presume) from corn flour, and it was apparently a specific against upset stomach.
Has anyone heard of this term, and am I right about what it means?
I’ve only heard of this in Agatha Christie myself. Decades and continents make that a confusing reference for me too, and I hope we get an informative answer.
Sure it’s not cornflower? Google has a lot of hits.
Cornflour in British English means corn starch. It’s not the same as corn flour. It can’t be used to make a porridge.
I’ve no idea how it would have been used to treat a stomach upset, although Google has a couple of suggestions that look promising.
TT: The Great Corn-Flour Mystery | Jane Lindskold: Wednesday Wanderings (wordpress.com)
Could it have been something like polenta/corn meal?
In the usage “A bowl of…?” I didn’t find any.
However, googling that (sorry, I should have done that first) did reveal these interesting tidbits.
From here: “One can make a simple pudding with corn starch, milk and sugar.” Plus the information that “cornflour” in the UK is called corn starch in the US.
Also from here, a few lines selected from the story where this is used, noting that it is hyphenated here.
’ “Mr. Jones had gone down to the kitchen and demanded a bowl of corn-flour for his wife, who had complained of not feeling well.”
Later: “Miss Clark… told us that the whole of the bowl of corn-flour was drunk not by Mrs. Jones but by her.”
Later: “it is nicely made, too, no lumps… Very few girls nowadays seem to be able to make a bowl of corn-flour nicely.”
Later: “You drink up the bowl of corn-flour.” ’
So it sounds like perhaps a fairly loose or thin pudding made with corn-flour (corn starch), milk and sugar, useful to settle the stomach.
I googled “bowl of cornflower”, and the first page had (a) stuff about whisking lemon juice into a bowl of cornflower paste, as well as (b) what looks quite like a quote from a mystery novel: “The police thought that she could have been poisoned as the maid Gladys mentioned Mr Jones prepared a bowl of cornflower for his wife and took it to her in her bedroom.” (And then, from another site: “She had also prepared a bowl of cornflower for Mrs Jones to calm her stomach but Miss Clark had drunk this, despite the diet she was on for her constant weight problem.”)
Interesting, that is the same story that I quoted above, but the word is spelled differently in yours. “Cornflower” in common usage is a small blue flower and doesn’t really make sense in this context. Also, I still don’t find anything in Google under “a bowl of cornflower” except the same quotes as I quoted above all with what I presume is the correct spelling. Of course, your googling history affects your googling results, but it seems to be assuming in my case that I want “corn flour.” I would be very interested if you would provide one or two cites for what you turned up on Google.
Well, sure: here’s one, and here’s another, though I suspect they’re both just making the same mistake — and, if so, all apologies for muddying the waters.
(Still, for what it’s worth, I can’t help but note an aside from WebMD: “People take cornflower tea to treat fever, constipation, water retention, and chest congestion. They also take it as a tonic, bitter, and liver and gallbladder stimulant. Women take it for menstrual disorders and vaginal yeast infections.”)
Thanks for the references. Now I want to get hold of a copy of the book to see how the word was written down there. update: I was going to try to get an electronic version for instant gratification, but there apparently isn’t one, at least not in Kindle format. So here’s an appeal to anyone who owns this book to please look this up, it’s in the first story in the collection.
Plus still looking for anyone who has other knowledge of this phrase and/or this remedy.
A comment in Roderick_Femm’s second linked article remarks:
In my copy of “Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories” (copyright date 1985), in the first story (“The Tuesday Night Club”), it’s printed as “corn-flour”, hyphen included.
Thank you, Seanette. I presume that is the printed-on-paper version, and not the electronic version.
I ask because I did find the story in an e-book volume with another title, “The Complete Short Stories (Miss Marple).” In that version, it is spelled “cornflour,” without the hyphen.
Now, taking that as settled, we can get back to one of my original questions, is anyone here familiar with the actual substance, the “bowl of cornflour” as a light pudding designed to settle the stomach (or indeed for any other purpose)?
(Interesting information about arrowroot, although it is different from cornflour (corn starch).)
Arrowroot is also a white powdered starch used to thicken stuff, fwiw.
Yeah, I use arrowroot and corn starch pretty interchangeably. They both do the same thing: thicken. To me, it just sounds like they’re making pudding (American definition.)
Here’s an early 20th-c. (?) book entitled Cookery for Invalids and Others, with the following remarks on arrowroot and cornflour:
I’m inclined to think that the corn-flour variant of that “water arrowroot” is what Christie was talking about.
Now that I know so many gluten-intolerant people, I can’t help but wonder if the reason a pure-starch pudding was considered appropriate for people “with dietary restictions” or “to calm her stomach” or as a “Remedy for Diarrhea etc.” was because isolate starch contains only trace levels of gluten.
My mum used to make me a bowl of cornflour when I was a little girl, when I didn’t fancy a proper meal. I still make it for myself from time to time. It is made exactly like custard- custard powder is after all mostly corn flour (starch) with flavourings. You mix it with sugar and a little cold milk, warm the rest of the milk in the pan, then add the mixed cornflour with the warm milk and cook, stirring, until thick. You probably have to be a certain age to be familiar with eating a nice bowl of cornflour.
Cornflour (Brit.) = cornstarch (USA)
Cornstarch (cornflour) is a thickener. It is often used to thicken sauce in Chinese food (at least in Chinese restaurants in the US). I often make vanilla pudding with milk, sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, and cornstarch. You bring the mixture to a boil to activate the thickening properties of the cornstarch, stir continuously, and boil for a couple of minutes until thickened. It thickens further when cooled. When I add sliced bananas and Nabisco vanilla wafers, it becomes 'Nanner Pudding.