Hominy

A bowl of cooked hominy.

Dried (uncooked) form of hominy (US Quarter and Mexican 1 peso coins pictured for size comparison.)

Hominy is a food which consists of dried maize kernels that have been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization.

Production

To make hominy, field corn (maize) grain is dried, then treated by soaking and cooking the mature (hard) grain in a dilute solution of lye, slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or wood ash, a process termed nixtamalization. The soaked maize is washed, and then ground into masa. When fresh masa is dried and powdered, it becomes masa seca or masa harina.

Lye, lime and ash are highly alkaline: the alkalinity helps the dissolution of hemicellulose, the major glue-like component of the maize cell walls, and loosens the hulls from the kernels and softens the corn. Some of the corn oil is broken down into emulsifying agents (monoglycerides and diglycerides), while bonding of the corn proteins to each other is also facilitated. The divalent calcium in lime acts as a cross-linking agent for protein and polysaccharide acidic side chains. As a result, while cornmeal made from untreated ground corn is unable by itself to form a dough with the addition of water, the chemical changes in masa allow dough formation, which is essential to the ability to fashion dough into tortillas. Also, soaking the corn in lime^[1] kills the seed's germ, which keeps it from sprouting while in storage. Finally, in addition to providing a source of dietary calcium, the lime reacts with the corn so that the nutrient niacin can be assimilated by the digestive tract.

Previously the consumption of untreated corn was thought to cause pellagra. It was thought that the cause was from the corn or some infectious element carried by untreated corn. However, further advancements have shown that it is merely a correlational relationship not causal. In the 1700 and 1800s, areas highly dependent on corn as a staple diet were more likely to have pellagra. This is due to the fact that the niacin (the deficiency present in pellagra) found in untreated corn is not available for absorption in humans. The process of nixtamalization frees niacin into a state where it can be absorbed into the intestines. This was primarily elucidated by exploring why persons in Mexico, who depended on maize in their diet, did not develop pellagra compared to other cultures during this time period. One reason was that Mayans treated corn in an alkaline solution to soften it. Thus, they freed niacin for absorption. This is the process that we now refer to as nixtamalization.^[2]

The process of making hominy is also called nixtamalization and the ground product can be called masa nixtamalera.

The earliest known usage of nixtamalization was in what is present-day southern Mexico and Guatemala around 1500–1200 BC.

Recipes

In Central American and Mexican cuisine, masa nixtamalera is cooked with water and milk to make a thick, gruel-like beverage called atole. When made with chocolate and sugar, it becomes atole de chocolate. Adding anise and piloncillo to this mix creates champurrado, a popular breakfast drink.

The English term hominy is derived from the Powhatan language word for prepared maize.^[3] Many other Native American cultures also made hominy and integrated it into their diet. Cherokees, for example, made hominy grits by soaking corn in a weak lye solution obtained by leaching hardwood ash with water and beating it with a kanona (ᎧᏃᎾ), or corn beater.^[4] The grits were used to make a traditional hominy soup (gvnohenv amagii ᎬᏃᎮᏅ ᎠᎹᎩᎢ), a hominy soup that was allowed to ferment (gvwi sida amagii ᎬᏫ ᏏᏓ ᎠᎹᎩᎢ),^[5] cornbread, dumplings (digunvi ᏗᎫᏅᎢ),^[6] or, in post-contact times, fried with bacon and green onions.

Some recipes using hominy include pozole (a Mexican stew of hominy and pork, chicken, or other meat), hominy bread, hominy chili, hog 'n' hominy, casseroles and fried dishes. In Latin America there are a variety of dishes referred to as mote. Hominy can be ground coarsely to make hominy grits, or into a fine mash (dough) to make masa, a dough used regularly in Latin American cuisine. Many islands in the West Indies, most notably Jamaica, also use hominy (known as cornmeal or polenta, although different from Italian polenta) to make a sort of porridge with corn starch or flour to thicken the mixture and condensed milk, vanilla and nutmeg to taste.

Rockihominy, a popular trail food in the 19th and early 20th centuries, is dried corn roasted to a golden brown, then ground to a very coarse meal, almost like hominy grits. Hominy is also used as animal feed.

See also

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Hominy recipe

Look up hominy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

Maize (corn)
Varieties	Baby Blue Dent Field Flint Flour MON 810 MON 863 Quality Protein Maize Shoepeg Sweet Transgenic maize Waxy Bolivia varieties Ecuador varieties Italian varieties Sweetcorn varieties
Parts	Cob Kernel Stover
Processing	Amylomaize Corn construction Maize milling Nixtamalization Wet-milling
Pathology	BBCH-scale Corn allergy Maize streak virus
Corn-based products	Raw materials Cornmeal Masa Mielie-meal Oil Samp Starch Steep liquor Syrup Beverages Atole Bourbon Champurrado Chicha Colada morada Pinolillo Pozol Tejate Tejuino Tesgüino Dishes Arepa Bread Conkies Cookie Corn flakes Corn on the cob Cou-cou Fufu Grits Hallaca Hominy Humita Johnnycake List of maize dishes Mazamorra Mămăligă Milho Frito Mush Nachos Nshima Pamonha Pap Pashofa Piki Polenta Popcorn Pudding corn Pupusa Sadza Sagamite Taco Tamale Tortilla Ugali Corn syrup Glucose syrup High fructose corn syrup Public relations High maltose corn syrup Non-food Biofuel Cornstalk fiddle Misc. List of popcorn brands