Nixtamilized Corn

Beastmode

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Ray mentioned this in an email exchange about it being pretty safe. I was asking him about eliminating starches completely and why he did it. (Email below)

"When I read Gerhard Volkheimer's work on persorption 40 years ago I started thinking about it and I noticed that people often had arthritis symptoms that increased after eating beans or potatoes or uncooked starchy vegetables. I have experimented with increasing saturated fats and/or sugars to replace the calories. Thoroughly nixtamalized corn seems to be pretty safe."

Anyone experienced with eating this kind of corn?
 

miki14

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I order regulary, it's great. I also eat wheat, after a while I get some weight gain not with masa harina.
 

olive

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Nixtamilised corn is safe. There was a few post by user Travis on its benefits. I buy 100% nixtamilised corn tortillas to make steak tacos with often.
 

cyclops

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Is nixtamilized corn really THAT much better then say white rice or even potatoes that it really matters to choose it over these other somewhat Peat approved starches? I think they're all pretty good is what I'm saying.
 

olive

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Is nixtamilized corn really THAT much better then say white rice or even potatoes that it really matters to choose it over these other somewhat Peat approved starches? I think they're all pretty good is what I'm saying.
To play devils advocate;
Potatoes have starch that are able to persorb and wreak havoc on the gut and brain.
Rice inhibits 5ar and is high in arsenic.
 

yerrag

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To play devils advocate;
Potatoes have starch that are able to persorb and wreak havoc on the gut and brain.
Rice inhibits 5ar and is high in arsenic.
Are you saying these as a general statement? Are there no qualifiers? Do all manners of cooking potatoes produce starch that persorb? If I ate regularly boiled potatoes, or roasted potatoes, would there be no difference in persorption characteristics as compared to heavily processed potato starch powder? And what about arsenic in rice? Isn't that dependent on where the rice is grown? And as far as nixtamalized corn, isn't there any concern at all that most of the corn used is GMO? Are there no concerns about glyphosate?

With respect to GMO corn, I feel many people act like Jews that swear they don't eat pork, but pretend there's no pork in dumplings and spring rolls, just because they don't see it. Wink wink

In denial. But hey, to each his own.
 
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miki14

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To play devils advocate;
Potatoes have starch that are able to persorb and wreak havoc on the gut and brain.
Rice inhibits 5ar and is high in arsenic.

Brown rice inhibits 5ar not white rice. Levels of arsenic in rice depends on the ground.

Is nixtamilized corn really THAT much better then say white rice or even potatoes that it really matters to choose it over these other somewhat Peat approved starches? I think they're all pretty good is what I'm saying.

Primarily it comes down to taste but I like masa more and I feel the best with it. My recipe de jour; Masa harina with gelatine and your veggie of choise.
 

cyclops

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Primarily it comes down to taste but I like masa more and I feel the best with it. My recipe de jour; Masa harina with gelatine and your veggie of choise.

I'm sure I'd like Masa Harina more too, but I never made it, because white rice and potatoes just seemed more convenient. I thought you have to make tacos out of it or something. Can you just boil it and eat it like that?
 

miki14

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I'm sure I'd like Masa Harina more too, but I never made it, because white rice and potatoes just seemed more convenient. I thought you have to make tacos out of it or something. Can you just boil it and eat it like that?

Making tortilla needs some skills. You can mix masa with water and boil it like powdered potato but it needs something sticky to keep form.
 

michael94

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I'm sure I'd like Masa Harina more too, but I never made it, because white rice and potatoes just seemed more convenient. I thought you have to make tacos out of it or something. Can you just boil it and eat it like that?
its called atole but often its used with much less masa harina /liquid ratio and is more like a drink than porridge. Its a very simple concept that is open

Mom's Frugal: Atole- Masa Porridge
 

Literally

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For those who may not realize it, most premade Mexican corn products -- tortillas and tortilla chips for example, are made with masa harina.
 

Lolinaa

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I'm sure I'd like Masa Harina more too, but I never made it, because white rice and potatoes just seemed more convenient. I thought you have to make tacos out of it or something. Can you just boil it and eat it like that?
[QUOTE=

You can make polenta with it and add some cheese, butter or coconut oil to eat it with.
 

johnwester130

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Can someone send me a bag of Jackson's Honest corn chips ? I will pay the postage.

They do not ship to the UK
 
OP
Beastmode

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I made tortillas for the first time using Masa Harani today. Everyone loved them and very filling.

Good reaction from them after the 1st time (no fatigue or bloating, etc.)

Hoping it serves as another good carb source and replaces the white rice and potatoes that I was occasionally eating.
 

tara

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Potatoes have starch that are able to persorb and wreak havoc on the gut and brain.
Of the commonly eaten starchy foods, I think potatoes have one of the largest starch molecules when fully gelatinised (well-cooked), and therefore hypothetically might pose less persorption risk than some of the others, such as rice etc.

I would assume they're lower persorption-risk than any dry starch, including dry-cooked products made from nixtamalised corn, such as corn chips.
 

boris

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For those who may not realize it, most premade Mexican corn products -- tortillas and tortilla chips for example, are made with masa harina.

Are they all made with nixtamalized masa harina?
 

Literally

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Are they all made with nixtamalized masa harina?

I doubt it... people are adept at de-traditionalizing recipes in industrial settings. That being said, most of the corn tortillas I've seen appear to use it. For example, even the mass produced Mission brand lists "ground corn treated with lime" on the label.

You will probably find less consistency with the chips. I use the Xochitl brand of chips which is widely available in the US. On this product they list "lime" as a separate ingredient. My guess would be that in the US, labeling the lime is a requirement.

BTW I'm not saying the Xochitl are healthy but they use less damaging oils that many products (e.g. high oleic) and use non-GMO corn. Another option is to just make your own chips by frying nixtamalized tortillas in coconut oil or tallow. You need very little oil to do this in the bottom of a pot, and assuming you don't need a lot (which I hope you don't!) it's quick to do.

Also, grits are a similar story, but harder to find the good stuff. Traditionally made with nixtamalized corn, but many don't use that now. If the grits say they are made with "hominy" I believe that means nixtamalized. Hominy should generally be found nixtamalized.

Finally, the procedure can be done at home and it's not overly complicated. But the lime is caustic and you have to make sure to get the right kind. Then unless you just want to make hominy you need to grind the corn, and general purpose grinders to not work. So all in all it's pretty hard core to make your own.
 

boris

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Thanks @Literally I think I will try and make my own :D. All the stuff in the stores where I live sadly has sunflower oil.
 

Literally

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You can also use masa harina if you can get it shipped to you. That is the limed corn, dried and ground into a flour for you.
It can take a little time to learn to make corn tortillas. There are other things you can make with masa... like tamale pie is a common comfort food recipe in the American Southwest. There are also many Mexican recipes using it.

Good luck!
 

yerrag

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@Literally It's hard to find corn that's not GMO. For that reason I'd not eat nixtamalized corn products on a regular basis. Otherwise, I like the idea of nixtamalization as it adds calcium to a carb staple.
 

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