# making hominy



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

will the powdered lime I use for my garden work to make hominey? I have 50 pounds of it. The only place I've seen pickling lime is in wal-mart and i am trying to stay away from there.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2008)

It's probably as good a lime as any that is used in the Third World. I used pickling lime myself, but if ag lime was what I had and I wanted to make hominy then I'd use it.

Just so long as you're sure it's not contaminated with fertilizers, pesticides, and the like.

.....Alan.


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## NoClue (Jan 22, 2007)

Good question - I'd always wondered about this


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2008)

A.T. Hagan said:


> It's probably as good a lime as any that is used in the Third World. I used pickling lime myself, but if ag lime was what I had and I wanted to make hominy then I'd use it.
> 
> Just so long as you're sure it's not contaminated with fertilizers, pesticides, and the like.
> 
> .....Alan.


 *Wait, strike what I just said. I was having a mind blank about this.*

Ag lime is usually ground up calcium _carbonate_, maybe with some magnesium compounds if it's dolimitic ag lime.

Pickling lime is slaked lime or calcium hydroxide. One can also use quicklime or calcium oxide to make hominy with. Slaked lime is mildly caustic, quick lime very much so. Ag lime (calcium carbonate) is alkaline, but not caustic so won't work to peel hominy with. You would need to heat the lime to drive off the absorbed carbon dioxide to produce quick lime to use it to make hominy. Ordinary ag lime won't work for hominy making.

Sorry about misleading you. If you really don't want to go into Wally World to get the pickling lime it can be mail ordered easily enough.

.....Alan.


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## vickie (Aug 8, 2002)

I made it a few years back and used baking soda or baking powder one of the two.
the instructions were in Back to the Basics book. i am at work right now but i will look it up for you when i get home. mine turned out great. i canned it up and people are always asking for a jar of it. Vickie


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2008)

It depends on the flavor that you want for what you should use to hull the corn.

If you want hominy to make masa or posole with then use lime. Any of the southwestern uses of hulled corn (tortillas and so on) use lime-peeled hominy. The lime contributes to the flavor even with the repeated rinsings.

If you want hominy such as is commonly eaten in the southeast (big hominy or grits) then use baking soda, store bought lye (sodium hydroxide), or wood ash lye (mostly potassium salts). They'll get the hulls off as well, but the flavor is different from that of lime-peeled hominy.

No matter what you use follow the recipe closely and rinse the finished product very well before consuming.

.....Alan.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

my 50 pound bag of lime is calcium carbonate, so i guess i will have to go to the store. Found it on line but I think it was cheaper at the store.
I am very interested in the soda recipe also. we are thinking about growing dent corn and want to learn how to use it other than ground for meal.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

I believe my mom use to tell me that they used hardwood ashes when she was growing up. I think they added enough water to where the mixture of ashes and water would be about the consistentcy of a ice creme shake or malt. They would soak it a while, then stir it around and soak it some more. The ashes would eat the hull off the kernels. When they thought it was skinless enough they would rinse the ashes off and soak in water for a while. I think they repeated the rinse several times before they cooked the hominy for dinner. 

Sounds like a lot of work for a meal.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

If all you have is corn and beans and you don't want to get pellagra, you will be glad to know how to make hominy.


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## Jaclynne (May 14, 2002)

vickie said:


> I made it a few years back and used baking soda or baking powder one of the two.
> the instructions were in Back to the Basics book. i am at work right now but i will look it up for you when i get home. mine turned out great. i canned it up and people are always asking for a jar of it. Vickie



Vickie - hominy instructions aren't in my Back to Basics book, but they are in Carla Emery's Encylopedia of Country Living. You can read it online too.
http://books.google.com/books?id=8v...64fVwbL&sig=qkJShR-aAYZZCSGbSddmWMHUQvY&hl=en

Here is another site that talks about making hominy. http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Indian hominy

Halo


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## vickie (Aug 8, 2002)

thanks, I went home last night and looked and looked and could not find what book it was in. Thanks now i will have to start a new batch. Vickie


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## auctioneer (Sep 11, 2006)

Wind in Her Hair said:


> yikeysmikey, I don't want to get THAT!
> 
> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/Pellagra_NIH.jpg


I *think* I've read you and CF don't do TV, but you may have heard of this show. In case you're interested, from "Good Eats" (Alton Brown, creator & host)(Deb Duchon, Nutritional Anthropologist) FoodTV Network [complete transcript at link]:


from "*Tort(illia) Reform*" transcript (my bolding)



> You notice how I don't even have to think "nutritional anthropologist" anymore, and she shows up?
> 
> AB: Okay, I'll bite. What's with the wood ashes?
> DD: They're alkaline, of course.
> ...


http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season10/tortila/tortilla_tran.htm


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## auctioneer (Sep 11, 2006)

HaloHead said:


> Here is another site that talks about making hominy. http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Indian hominy
> 
> Halo


That is an interesting link!


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## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

From the Joy of Cooking:

Hominy is corn with tht hull and germ removed. In an attempt to give it calcium values, it is sometimes also soaked in wooed ash lye. It has recently gained favor as an antistrontium absorbent. Hominy can be dried and ground into a coarse flour for baking cooked as a cereal, or used in any recipe calling for corn. Hominy grits, also called corn grits, are the broken grains.

To prepare hominy from corn, shell and wash:

1 quart dried corn

Put it into an enamel or stainless steel pan. Cover with:

2 quarts water

Add:

2 tablespoons baking soda

Cover the pan and let this mixture sit 12 hours. Then bring it to a boil in the liquid in which it has soaked Simmer about 3 hours or until the hulls loosen. If necessary, add water. Drain and plunge into cold water. Rub corn until hulls are removed. Bring to a boil in:

2 quarts cold water

Drain and rub again. Repeat this boiling process again in fresh water adding:

1 teaspoon salt

Drain once more and serve. Season with: 

Melted butter


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