During the starving time at Valley Forge, Oneida warriors led by Polly Cooper walked hundreds of miles carrying corn to feed them. Polly Cooper provided training in how to cook white corn to get maximum nutritional benefit from it. She is being remember during this 250th anniversary year with a coin.
So she taught them Nixtamilization? I thought Nixtamilization was a mesoamerican technique of converting corn in certain ways so vitamins were more easily digested.
ReplyDeleteFrom Google: "Nixtamalization is an ancient Mesoamerican process of cooking and soaking dried corn in an alkaline solution (like lime or wood ash water) to soften kernels, remove husks, and dramatically increase nutritional value, making essential nutrients like niacin (Vitamin B3) and calcium more bioavailable and preventing deficiencies like pellagra. This process transforms hard corn into nixtamal, creating the pliable, flavorful base (masa) for foods like tortillas, tamales, and hominy."
Lye was more useful in pioneer times than we think.
yes
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