Hominy......problems.....maybe?

[freemotion]

I need help! My corn has been boiling with some pickling lime for hours now, and the skin is not coming off. The corn is quite soft, and some is kinda bursting open. It tastes good, but there is no sign of skins that need rinsing off, as the instructions described. I read about it in both Wild Fermentation and The Encyclopedia of Country Living.

I wanted to make taco soup tonight.....any hints or suggestions???

Will we all get indigestion if I use the corn as is, without the skins coming off?

I did presoak it for a day, almost 24 hours.

 

[big brown horse]

Sorry free, I never made hominy from scratch. Sounds like you are doing everything right if it tastes good so far.

 

[Farmfresh]

OOOH! I am waiting to learn more!

 

[miss_thenorth]

I just did a quick google search--did you use baking soda or lime(lye)? Did you pressure cook it? One website said you might have to rub the corn on something to remove the hulls.

Good luck, I've never made it, (and really didn't know what it was until you posted this, learn something new every day).

 

[freemotion]

I added lime and boiled it for a few hours, checking it every so often to see if the skins would rub off. They never did. So I just gave some of it a good rinsing and will just add it to the soup. Hope we aren't all stuck in the bathroom tomorrow.....there are only two bathrooms, and now there are four of us in the house!

So it is going into my taco soup tonight, and I will rinse the rest and find some recipes to use it in. Maybe dry some for masa harina. Maybe freeze some if we like the taco soup. To me it tastes reminiscent of chestnuts....kinda starchy. I like it.

We decided that it is probably some weird Monsanto GMO corn so that is why it is not behaving itself. Maybe I will plant some heritage flint corn in the garden next year and see how that goes. I got this corn from the feed bag. 99.9% chance it is GMO, but where can one buy non-GMO flint or dent corn? I don't think it exists for purchase as whole corn.

Planning the garden!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Yeah, it may be the type of corn. From what I read, flint is the better choice. I got my vegetable catalogues the other day in the mail, and while going through them, they don't even have an heirloom corn. Let us know how it turns out. I'm thinking you should be ok, bathroom -wise

 

[big brown horse]

I think you will be fine!

I love taco soup! Have a wonderful dinner with your family Free!

 

[freemotion]

The soup was delicious!!!!

 

[2dream]

Yeah, it may be the type of corn. From what I read, flint is the better choice. I got my vegetable catalogues the other day in the mail, and while going through them, they don't even have an heirloom corn. Let us know how it turns out. I'm thinking you should be ok, bathroom -wise

FYI
Baker Creek has heirloom flint and dent corn seed.

 

[ORChick]

Free, I got my corn from somewhere that sells organic whole corn (organic is, by definition, non-GMO as I understand it). I followed the instructions in Wild Fermentation, but used wood ash. This was some months ago, and I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure all the skins didn't come off for me either. I do know I wasn't entirely happy with the results (I wanted to make tortillas; they tasted good, but the texture of the masa wasn't what I thought it should be. This is from someone who has never been to Mexico, never eaten fresh tortillas, and has never, to my knowledge, eaten hominy ). Because of these (in my opinion) poor results I did some research in a couple of books on Mexican cooking. Diana Kennedy gave the process, and slightly differently than Wild Fermentation. I haven't tried it again yet, but intend to when Life gets a bit quieter for me.

W.F. - Soak corn; Cover with fresh water + lime/ashes; Boil approx 3 hours, till hulls loosen; Rinse, rubbing to remove hulls; Rinse again

Dianna Kennedy - Cover corn with water, bring to simmer, stir in lime; Cook over low heat until able to scrape skin from kernel - approx 20 min.; Remove from heat, cover, and set aside to soak overnight; Rinse in fresh water, rubbing kernels to remove hulls; repeat.

The main difference seems to be that the cooking time is shorter, and the soaking time comes after the cooking rather than before. I think when I try this again I will combine the two, and soak beforehand a la Nourishing Traditions, but otherwise follow Kennedy's instructions. Your library should have several books by Kennedy if you want to check the original source. I look forward to hearing of your results.