hominy

Hulled and dried kernels of corn, prepared as food by boiling.

[Short for Virginia Algonquian uskatahomen.]

Prepared maize kernels, also known as samp. Lye hominy has the pericarp and germ removed by soaking in caustic soda. Pearled hominy is degermed hulled maize. Corn grits are ground hominy.

One of the first food gifts the American Indians gave to the colonists, hominy is dried white or yellow corn kernels from which the hull and germ have been removed. This process is done either mechanically or chemically by soaking the corn in slaked lime or lye. Hominy is sold canned, ready-to-eat or dried (which must be reconstituted before using). It's commonly served as a side dish or as part of a casserole. When dried hominy is broken or very coarsely ground it's called samp. When ground, it's called hominy grits-or simply grits-and usually comes in three grinds-fine, medium and coarse. Hominy grits are generally simmered with water or milk until very thick. The mixture can be served in this mushlike form or chilled, cut into squares and fried. In the South, grits are served as a side dish for breakfast or dinner.

Like England, the Virginia colony had its gentlefolk and commoners, masters and servants. After twenty years of hardship, all were beginning to enjoy some prosperity, such that even the servants ate well, according to reports received back in England by Captain John Smith. He gave particulars of their diet, including hominy, in his Continuation of the Generall Historie of Virginia, written in 1629. "Their servants," Smith wrote, "commonly feed upon Milke Homini, which is bruized Indian corne pounded, and boiled thicke, and milke for the sauce; but boiled with milke, the best of all will oft feed on it."

The Indians gave them the idea for both the word and the food. Hominy is an English adaptation of an Algonquin dish Smith described in his 1612 Map of Virginia: "the branne they boile 3 or 4 houres with water, which is an ordinary food they call Ustatahamen."

Adapted to the colonists' tastes, hominy remained a staple in the South for centuries to come, where it is now better known as hominy grits or just plain grits.

A by-product of the milling of maize; contains bran, germ and fragments of starchy material.

Bowl of hominy

Hominy or nixtamal is dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali.

The traditional U.S. version involves soaking dried corn in lye-water (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide solution), traditionally derived from wood ash, until the hulls are removed. Mexican recipes describe a preparation process consisting primarily of cooking in lime-water (calcium hydroxide). In either case, the process is called nixtamalization, and removes the germ and the hard outer hull from the kernels, making them more palatable, easier to digest, and easier to process.

Commercially available canned hominy may have a slightly stronger scent when compared to the traditional preparation.

The earliest known usage of nixtamalization was in what is present-day Guatemala around 1500–1200 BC. It affords several significant nutritional advantages over untreated maize products. It converts some of the niacin (and possibly other B vitamins) into a form more absorbable by the body, improves the availability of the amino acids, and (at least in the lime-treated variant) supplements the calcium content, balancing maize's comparative excess of phosphorus.

Many Native American cultures made hominy and integrated it into their diet. Cherokees, for example, made hominy grits by soaking corn in lye and beating it with a kanona (corn beater). The grits were used to make a traditional hominy soup (called ᎬᏃᎮᏅ ᎠᎹᎩᎢ, or Gv-No-He-Nv A-Ma-Gi-i), a hominy soup that was allowed to ferment (Gv-Wi Si-Da A-Ma-Gi-i), cornbread, dumplings (Di-Gu-Nv-i) or fried with bacon and green onions.

Some recipes using hominy include menudo (a spicy tripe and hominy soup), pozole (a stew of hominy and pork, chicken, or other meat), hominy bread, hominy chili, casseroles and fried dishes. Hominy can be ground coarsely to make hominy grits, or into a fine mash (dough) to make masa, the dough used to make tamales.

Rockihominy, a popular trail food in the 19th & early 20th centuries, is dried corn roasted to a golden brown, then ground to a very coarse meal, almost like hominy grits. Hominy can also be used as animal feed.

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Hominy recipe

External links

• The Mountain Laurel (2005). Homemade Hominy. Retrieved June 18, 2005.
• Ha-pah-shu-tse (2005). Hominy Products. Retrieved June 18, 2005.
• Native Way Cookbook Gv-No-He-Nv A-Ma-Gi-i, Gv-Wi Si-Da A-Ma-Gi-i and Di-Gu-Nv-i.
• wonderfulingredients.com Recipe for White Bean, Hominy and Chipotle Soup

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)