Title: Making Hominy
Categories: Info Corn Native
Yield: 1 Servings

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Hominy has been made by Native Americans for thousands of years. It is basically a method to remove the hulls from maize which makes it more digestible and allows you to do more things with it (like make tortillas, or masa dough for tamales). It also happens to make more of the niacin in the maize available, which helps one avoid the nutritional deficiency disease pellagra. Here are some traditional Amish recipes for making hominy from dried corn:

Hominy (Lye Method)

In a large kettle, bring 1 1/2 gallons of water and 3 tablespoons of lye to a boil (take care not to inhale steam from the lye water). Add 1 gallon of clean dried shucked corn. Simmer 10 minutes (no need to stir). Remove from heat and let sit for 25 minutes.

Drain off the lye water and add clean water. Wash with repeated changes of fresh water until the black ends of the corn kernels are loose. Remove the black ends and hulls. Then either soak overnight and follow the "hominy canning" recipe below, or dry and store in a cool place.

Hominy (Soda Method) (see note 1, below)

Use 2 tablespoons of soda and 2 quarts of water for each quart of corn. Follow remaining directions for the lye method, above.

Hominy (Lime Method) (see note 2, below)

Substitute household lime for lye, following directions for the lye method, above, except cook for two hours or until the hulls loosen.

Hominy Making Hints

o Always use stainless steel, iron, or enamelware for making hominy. o Stir with a wooden spoon. o The black ends may be removed by rubbing kernels over a cloth on a washboard, or by using a churn. o It's OK to miss a few of the hulls and centers. o Hominy may be used in meatloaf. o Do not inhale the steam from the lye water.

Canning Hominy

Boil hominy until almost tender. Fill jars 3/4 full. Fill with boiling water. Process 3 hours in boiler, or 90 minutes in a pressure cooker.

Source: _Amish Cooking_.

Notes from me (Jim Harvey, harvey@iupui.edu):

Note 1: In the soda method, they appear to mean baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). This agrees with a note I saw in Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Note 2: In the lime method, they appear to mean slaked lime (calcium hydroxide), which would agree with what others have posted on CHILE-HEADS.

The traditional method for making hominy, invented by Native Americans in pre-Columbian times, used a dilute lye solution made from wood-ash leachings. Flint corn varieties are traditionally used, rather than dent corn varieties, which are used for making flour and cornmeal.

From: harvey@indyvax.iupui.edu (James Harvey)

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