Nixtamal techniques for different maize races prepared as tortillas and tostadas by women of Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

Nixtamalization, which means cooking maize in alkaline water, is the central technique for the culinary use of maize in Mexico and Central America. Without this procedure, relying on maize as the basic starch staple is inadequate because of nutriment deficiencies. Mexico has more than 50 principal racial types of maize, and these differ in grain qualities that can require the adjustment of the nixtamalization process. Properties such as hardness and grain composition influence nixtamalization because they are related to the absorption of water that occurs during cooking and steeping. Some maize preparations, like tortillas and tostadas, can also require the adjustment of nixtamalization to obtain a high-quality foodstuff. We studied how women in three regions of the state of Chiapas, which differ in the prevalent maize race available, prepare their nixtamal and whether they make changes according to the type of food they prepare. Interviews of 30 women follow the measure of relevant variables when the women prepared nixtamal. We found that nixtamalization is adjusted for different grain hardnesses and for environmental conditions. Variations were found in the cooking time of the nixtamal, in the amount of time the nixtamal was steeped, and in a special process of double boiling of the nixtamal performed by some women for tostadas. Women that specialize in production for the market have developed variations preferred by consumers. As practiced by women in Chiapas, nixtamalization is a flexible technique that is adjusted for maize type and for food preparations.

Quality assessment of maize tortillas produced from landraces and high yield hybrids and varieties

“…Additionally, cooking with lime releases gums from the pericarp that impacts the viscosity, cohesion, and stickiness of masa and tortillas. Nixtamalization removes the pericarp producing masa with lower fiber content and more elastic ( 6 ). When processing masa into tortillas, it was subjectively classified as good and bad machinability ( Table 2 ).…”

“…In contrast to the preferred genotypes for nixtamalization, most of the landraces have a soft-textured endosperms. About hundreds of landraces of maize are currently grown in Mexico; these have essential variations in their grain qualities, with physical and chemical differences among landraces ( 5 , 6 ).…”

Famine, tea, and bread in Ireland: C282Y and modern human microevolution

“…Both in maize and in cereals, niacin is bound and unavailable, so proper preparation and cooking techniques are needed to boost the bioavailability of niacin (Oduho et al, 1994). Maize‐consuming Indigenous populations in the Americas made niacin available through specific alkali‐based processing techniques using lime or plant ash (Aliseda, 2021; Brenton & Paine, 2007; Geber et al, 2019; Jewell & Fidler, 2021; Katz et al, 1974; North American Food Systems Network, 2020; Palacios‐Pola et al, 2022; Wacher, 2003). In the absence of niacin, the body is also able to engage an alternate pathway, generating niacin via metabolization of the amino acid tryptophan.…”