Nixtamalization
Nixtamalization is the Mesoamerican process of cooking and steeping dried maize in an alkaline solution of lime or wood ash, which loosens the hull, makes the grain grindable into masa and greatly improves its nutritional value. Every traditional corn tortilla begins with it.
Etymology
Larousse derives the word from Nahuatl nextli, short for tenextli, lime, and tamalli, tamal. The treated grain is called nixtamal, sometimes spelled nistamal.
Process
Dried kernels are put in cold water with lime or hearth ash, brought to a boil for roughly five minutes, taken off the heat and left to steep overnight. The next day they are rinsed and ground. In many places the maize is only partly rinsed so a little lime remains, which helps the dough keep; some millers add more lime during grinding. Very thorough washing yields whiter masa that is more fragile and sours easily, one reason tortillería dough tends to be yellow. The leftover liquid is nejayote.
Nutrition
Larousse states that nixtamalization makes maize considerably more nutritious, since the grain's proteins only become usable after the alkaline treatment. CGIAR, drawing on a CIMMYT explainer, lists higher niacin and iron bioavailability, more calcium, more resistant starch and lower mycotoxin contamination. When maize spread around the world after European contact, it traveled without this indigenous knowledge, and maize diets lacking nixtamalization have historically been associated with pellagra and other deficiency diseases.
Effects on color
Alkaline cooking also alters pigments. A 2017 study of blue and purple native maize found that nixtamalization destroys a large share of the grain's anthocyanins and can turn tortillas from blue toward greenish-yellow.
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See also
References
- "Nixtamalización". Larousse Cocina (Diccionario enciclopédico de la Gastronomía Mexicana). Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Nixtamalization: An ingenious solution for healthier maize-based diets". CGIAR. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Composición nutricional y de compuestos bioactivos en tortillas de poblaciones nativas de maíz con grano azul/morado". Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas 8(7):1483-1496 (2017), via Redalyc. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Tortilla". Larousse Cocina (Diccionario enciclopédico de la Gastronomía Mexicana). Retrieved 2026-10-10.