CORN AS FOOD

Corn may be converted with little processing into common foods in the American diet. Alternatively, dry and wet milling have evolved to take corn apart into its various components and convert them into a wide variety of food ingredients used in todays highly engineered and processed foods. These ingredients are becoming more important as consumers demand more highly processed and convenient foods with long shelf-life. In Latin America, Africa, and Asia, corn is an easily prepared staple food comprising high proportions of diets.

Alkali-cooked-Corn

The ancient Aztec Indians discovered that cooking corn in the alkali of wood ashes or quicklime would transform corn into foods which we now refer to as Mexican foods. Today, these foods have become quite popular because U.S. consumers have acquired a desire for foreign and ethnic foods; for example, 'Mexican' foods have become established in fast food restaurants. 'Mexican' foods include table tortillas for making enchiladas and burritos, or for frying to make nachos, tacos, and tostados; and nixtamalized atole and tamales.(Fig. 1)

In the traditional method, the corn is boiled for 15 min and then steeped (soaked) overnight in a 1% lime solution to loosen the bran and some of the germ, impart desirable texture and flavour, and gelatinze some of the starch. Proper cooking is important to give the desired dough texture and to prevent stickiness. The cooking solution, termed nejayote, contains about 6% of the corn solids and is drained and discarded. The cooked corn, termed nixtamal, is washed to remove bran and residual lime, and then is stone ground into a dough termed masa. The masa is kneaded, molded into disks, and baked into tortillas. Tortillas are usually prepared daily and any left over stale tortillas are fried into tortilla chips or tostados.

Dry corn masa flour, which merely requires adding water, is being marketed by large food processors to save consumers time and drudgery of preparation.

Corn hominy is another type of food based on alkali -cooked corn that has been popular among early American settlers. Today, corn hominy is much less popular than it once was. The corn is cooked in alkali and washed to remove bran. The corn is then boiled in fresh water, salted, and canned. Corn hominy is consumed as a table vegetable.

White corns are preferred by consumers of alkali cooked corn. Very large kernels are preferred for corn hominy. Corns with high degrees of corneous endosperm and few cracks are needed to assure maximum masa yields and proper masa texture.