Hominy & Masa ProductionUpdated: October 21st, 2024
Created: October 18th, 2024Hominy and Masa Food Uses
Apparently the end product of nixtamalization will be 'hominy' which can be eaten as is, or blended: alternatively it can be dried and ground to make 'masa'
Hominy
Hominy is a food item produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization (nextamalli is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a type of hominy made with lye.
In Mexican cooking, hominy is finely ground to make masa
And:-All things Hominy.ComMasa . . . This process is nixtamalization, and it produces hominy, which is ground into a relatively dry dough to create fresh masa. The fresh masa can be sold or used directly, or can be dehydrated and blended into a powder to create masa harina, or masa flour.
19th Oct: Post nixtamalization steps:
- Given the maize has absorbed nearly all the lye a couple of litres will be added to drain the gelatinous liquid: I was going to keep this liquid and evaporate to use what I think is a cellulose solution, however I decided to throw it away as the thought of burning a 'lot' of wood to evaporate the water seemed too demanding.
Nixtamal: Thick enough to stand a laddle - Rinsed some 6 times with about 2.3Lt water.
- It seems the pericarp rather than becoming dislodged has dissolved. The kernels are soft enough to eat with no tough skin like structure.
- Add a final 3.2Lt. rain water for osmosis to draw any remaining lye from the kernels - overnight.
- At this stage the hominy weighs some 2.63Kg

20th Oct: Cleaned Hominy
- Washed with another 6Lt water. Drained weight 2.36Kg
Dry 1Kg in stove oven for long term storage.
Drying 1Kg of Nixtamal aka Hominy
Trying to keep temp around 60° : : Seems too warm - Cook 1Kg for 90min until it breaks up: See text for 21st below. Cooked for 2 to 3 hours but hasn't broken up, Ref: All things Hominy.Com above �
- The remaining 362g, and as they seem quite soft, I am tempted to just blend them.

1Kg/2.36 = approx 420g which is about a jar's weight of beans etc. 22:00 Drying 1Kg down to 400g


21st Oct: Further Cooking
