Nixtamalization
Nixtamalization cooks maize in alkaline water, loosening the grain’s hull and altering its nutrients, texture, flavor, and suitability for grinding.
Calcium hydroxide: An inorganic compound, also called slaked lime, used to make alkaline solutions for food processing. Its alkaline solution is the traditional treatment that loosens maize hulls and contributes calcium.
Mesoamerica: A historical and cultural region spanning central and southern Mexico and much of Central America. Nixtamalization developed within the region’s maize-based societies.
Corn tortilla: A flatbread made from maize masa and cooked on a hot surface. Nixtamalized masa gives this staple its characteristic flavor, pliability, and aroma.
Whole-grain maize flour: Flour milled from whole maize kernels without alkaline cooking. Unlike nixtamalized flour, it retains the hull and does not make bound niacin as bioavailable.
Pericarp: The outer layer of a cereal grain, enclosing the seed and protecting its inner tissues. Alkaline cooking softens and loosens this maize layer so it can be washed away.
Maya civilization: A Mesoamerican civilization known for its cities, writing, mathematics, and long history of maize agriculture. Maya communities used nixtamalized maize as a staple food.
Tamale: A Mesoamerican dish of masa filled or seasoned, wrapped in a plant leaf or husk, and steamed. Nixtamalized maize supplies the masa used in many traditional tamales.
Cornmeal: A coarse or medium flour made by grinding dried maize kernels. Ordinary cornmeal is milled without the alkaline treatment that defines nixtamalized products.
Endosperm: The seed tissue that stores nutrients for an embryo and forms most of a maize kernel. Water and alkali penetrate the kernel and alter this starchy interior.
Aztec cuisine: The food traditions of the Aztec Empire, built around maize, beans, squash, and other regional crops. Nixtamalized maize was central to the tortillas and other foods of Aztec life.