Honoring the past
Corn & its many children...
Maíz. Milpa. Mazorca. Totomoxtle. These are but a few words pertaining to the corn plant itself. Mexico's culture, specifically its culinary culture is rooted in corn. Elote. Masa. Tamale. The tortilla. Totopo. Tostada. Taco. Memela or sope. Garnachas. Huarache. Gordita. Molotes. Blanda. Tlayuda. Empanada. Enchiladas. Quesadilla. Chilaquiles. Mole. The list goes on, all of these varieties of corn-based dishes born out of cultural creation and different needs. The need to have nutrient-dense food on the go, for the campesino's journey to work. The need to provide for many with the little you have, hacer que se rinda.
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In the Mayan cosmovision (from the Tolteca religion, shared amongst the various groups of the Mesoamerican region), they believe an origin story for the human race. The gods created land, animals and desired a creature that could think, feel and, most importantly, venerate the gods. To create such a creature, they first formed it from mud, which failed because the creatures could neither walk nor keep themselves whole. Then tried to form them from wood which was more successful, being able to move and procreate, but they couldn’t feel. Upon further consideration, they decided to try to make this creature from corn. They made masa and successfully formed the first three men who could think, run and love. The corn itself became imbued with the human essence, and as the corn men populated the Earth, they taught their children to respect nature, to cultivate the Earth and to never forget the gods who created them.
Old tools, lasting methods
Nixtamalization (Spanish nixtamalización) comes from the Nahuatl nextamali which means corn dough or masa. Consuming corn that did not undergo nixtamalization, as we have seen historically, can lead to nutrient deficiency. That is why it is key to nixtamalize corn, softening the hull and making its nutrients maximally bioavailable. Many Indigenous groups throughout North America used nixtamalization to consume corn. Masa is not masa until the corn has been nixtamalized, so the term refers to both 1) the process of cooking corn in a solution of cal (calcium hydroxide) and water and 2) the process’s output of properly cooked corn masa or nixtamal.
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From corn to masa: the metate. There exist ancient tools passed down from generation to generation to preserve the culture. These tools are made from basalt volcanic rock extracted and hand-made in pueblos dedicated to the craft. The metate is a large, concave stone surface with a handheld grinding stone (mano) that looks like a rolling pin. Both are made from the porous and resistant basalt rock. Using the mano, one grinds the nixtamal on top of the metate, creating the masa. This process was made more efficient with the advent of electricity; the molino was created, electrically powering two large volcanic rocks to continuously grind as one feeds the nixtamal into the machine.