Re: Maize is highly nutricious, but low in an essential amino acid,
Actually, its not. its just that the nutricion in corn is locked up in undigestable proteins.. one way to make corn more nutricious, is to treat it with Calcium carbonate, or sodium hydrate (lye) or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) solutions.. the result is various forms of hominy. (sodium hydrate yeilds the most famous hominy, the lovely Asp's favorite, grits.)
but the flour used to make tamales (masa ? please help Consuela!) is also a form of hominy..
the indians used to use wood ashes mixed in with flour, and then add something sour, and the result was 1) a chemical reaction that increased the nutricion of the corn, and 2) acted as a leavening agent...(in fact, baking soda was "created" from observing the effect of wood ashes and sour milk on corn breads, which were totally unresponsive to yeasts as leavens.) a secondary effect of the process is to keep corn colors true, so treated this way, blue corn stays blue as you cook it.
(go to the What are you reading thread, and note, i am reading the story of corn.)
and They were smarter than the rednecks who got dermatitis, dementia, and diarrhea from too much maize
it was usually slaves, rather than rednecks, and usually slaves in transit, who had an unvaried diet of corn alone, who got pelegra. rednecks, were eating their grits and doing fine.
and tsuwm, truer words have never been spoken, lima beans are horrid!
(as for okra, really small tender pods, cooked whole, tempura style (ie, batter coated and fried) are actually edible... the gelatinous mess stays in the pod, and small ones are drier. but truth be told, most anything in the world taste better batter fried!)
