SC - Polenta and Cornmeal

[CorwynWdwd at aol.com]

As I understand it, and this is off the top of my pointy little head, lye is 
used to dehull, for lack of a better term, corn which is made into hominy. 
This is why I tend to avoid white hominy and white hominy grits. While I'm 
sure that there are those that have eaten white hominy for years to no ill 
effect, and there may even be someone out there that thinks me overly 
paranoid, the idea itself is unappetizing. For the record, I was raised on 
white hominy grits, and ate them nearly every morning of my formative years, 
and still do on occasion when eating out. Some things you can't shake.

I DO eat white speckle heart grits or (more often) yellow corn grits when 
cooking at home. I find them most often in the ethnic section of the local 
grocery or in one of the local health food places OR delights of delights, at 
one of the water powered grist mills that dot the area down here. I 
understand that a lot of the Hispanic type corn products like corn tortillas 
are treated with lime for the same reason we use lye, but I have also read 
that this in fact frees up a lot of the nutrients that would in fact exit 
with the fiber otherwise when eating corn products.

BTW, on the corn question, I tend to like yellow corn, I find the flavor of 
both the meal and the corn itself when served as a vegetable to be more full. 
Too many of the white corn varieties have been bread down to insipidness IMO. 
 YMMV, my Mother and I argue this point every now and then, as she likes 
white.

Corwyn

In a message dated 3/29/00 11:25:53 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
mermayde at juno.com writes:

> So, I am interested in finding out 1) why are some corn (and other food
>  products) treated with lye and 2) what does it accomplish, and 3) Are
>  there alternatives to this process?
>   Any clues as to where to check this out?
>   Christianna