Culinary lime (cal) ✦

Chaux alimentaire

What it is

Nixtamal comes from the Nahuatl nextli, ashes, and tamalli, dough: maize simmered in lime water sheds its hull and gives up bound niacin, which is why the maize cultures of the Americas had no pellagra and nineteenth-century Europe, which took the grain without the technique, did. The alkali also rearranges the corn protein so the dough will hold together at all — untreated maize simply crumbles.

In the kitchen

One percent cal to the dry weight of maize — 10 g per kilo — brought to a simmer, then left off the heat to steep overnight. Overdose it and the masa turns slippery, yellow and soapy; rinse until the water runs clear before grinding.

Goes with

Corn Masa harina Hominy (nixtamalised corn) Blue corn Epazote Salt

Same species

Calcium sulfate

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