''Masa'' or ''masa de maíz'' (; ) is a

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

made from ground nixtamalized

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

. It is used for making corn tortillas, '' gorditas'', '' tamales'', '' pupusas'', and many other Latin American dishes. It is dried and powdered into a

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

form called ''harina de maíz'' or ''masa harina''. Masa is reconstituted by mixing with water before using it in cooking. In Spanish, ''masa harina'' translates simply to 'dough flour', and can refer to many other types of dough.

Preparation

Field corn Field corn is a North American term for maize (''Zea mays'') grown for livestock fodder (silage and meal), ethanol, cereal, and processed food products. The principal field corn varieties are dent corn, flint corn, flour corn (also known as sof ...

grain is dried and then treated by cooking the mature, hard grain in a diluted solution of

slaked lime Calcium hydroxide (traditionally called slaked lime) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca( OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is produced when quicklime ( calcium oxide) is mixed with water. Annually, approxim ...

(calcium hydroxide) or

wood ash Wood ash is the powder (substance), powdery residue remaining after the combustion of wood, such as burning wood in a fireplace, bonfire, or an industrial power plant. It is largely composed of calcium compounds, along with other non-combustible ...

, and then letting it soak for many hours. The soaked maize is then rinsed thoroughly to remove the unpalatable flavor of the alkali. This process is

nixtamalization Nixtamalization ( ) is a process for the preparation of maize (corn), or other cereal grain, grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooking, cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (but sometimes aqueous alkali metal carbonates), ...

, and it produces hominy, which is ground into a relatively dry dough to create fresh masa. The fresh masa can be sold or used directly, or can be dehydrated and blended into a powder to create masa harina, or masa flour. Lime and ash are highly alkaline: the alkalinity helps the dissolution of

hemicellulose A hemicellulose (also known as polyose) is one of a number of heteropolymers (matrix polysaccharides), such as arabinoxylans, present along with cellulose in almost all embryophyte, terrestrial plant cell walls. Cellulose is crystalline, strong, an ...

, the major glue-like component of the maize cell walls, and loosens the hulls from the kernels and softens the corn. Some of the corn oil is broken down into emulsifying agents (monoglycerides and diglycerides), while bonding of the corn proteins to each other is also facilitated. The divalent calcium in lime acts as a cross-linking agent for protein and polysaccharide acidic side chains. The chemical changes in masa allow dough formation, and also allow the nutrient niacin to be absorbed by the digestive tract. By contrast, untreated

cornmeal Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...

is unable to form a dough on the addition of water, and a diet heavily reliant on its consumption is a risk factor for pellagra.

Other uses

The ground product can be called ''masa nixtamalera''. In Central American and

Mexican cuisine Mexican cuisine consists of the cuisines and associated traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican Cuisine, Mesoamerican cuisine. Mexican cuisine's ingredients and methods arise from the area's first agr ...

, ''masa nixtamalera'' is cooked with water and

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

to make a thick, gruel-like beverage called ''

atole ''Atole'' (, believed to come from Nahuatl ''Aztec cuisine, ātōlli'' or from Mayan), also known as ''atolli'', ''atol'' and ''atol de elote'', is a traditional hot masa-based beverage of Mexicans, Mexican origin. Atole can have different flav ...

''. When made with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, it becomes ''atole de chocolate''. Adding anise and '' piloncillo'' to this mixture creates ''

champurrado Champurrado is a chocolate-based ''atole'', a warm and thick Mexican cuisine, Mexican beverage. It is prepared with either a ''masa'' (Limewater#Food Preparation, lime-treated corn dough),'' masa harina'' (a dried version of this dough), or maize ...

'', a popular breakfast drink.

References

{{Corn Flour Doughs Mexican cuisine Central American cuisine Latin American cuisine

Preparation

Other uses

See also

References