Masa harina

Masa harina (farine de maïs nixtamalisée)

What it is

Cooking maize in lime — nixtamalization, from the Nahuatl — is at least three thousand years old, and it does two things at once: it loosens the hulls so the dough will hold together, and it frees the grain's niacin. Where maize travelled without the lime, into Europe and the American South, pellagra followed it.

In the kitchen

Mix it with slightly more warm water than its own weight and rest the dough half an hour before pressing; if the edges of a tortilla crack, the dough is dry, not the press. Cornmeal and polenta cannot stand in — untreated maize makes no dough at all.

Goes with

Lime Chili pepper Cilantro / Coriander Black bean Pork Avocado Epazote

Same species

Instant modified waxy maize starch Blue corn Corn Cornstarch Dextrose Hominy (nixtamalised corn)

Also used with

Culinary lime (cal) Huitlacoche

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us