I’ve seen the process on TV. Done in small amounts it looks like it takes a lot of time. I would not bother at home. For real Mexican, I go to Cancuns, in, Grafton Mass, for Mexican food made by a Mexican American family. The stuff I make at home is nowhere as good, but it is quick with pre made stuff. I generally don’t make my own bread when I want a sandwich either.

Several seed companies sell the “real” corn, if you want to go all out in making your own.

 I tend to agree with you there.    But much of Mexican food is still very simple to make at home when you have the proper seasonings. And, very few are needed.      … Refried beans for example, are not really refried.   They are just red beans or pinto beans dipped from the bean pot (aka: slow cooker) and smashed up while reheating  (much better than store bought canned).   … The only thing not Mexican is the cook.

The link (Alton Brown’s recipe) leaves out how the Nixtamal is actually made.  Some folks might think the dried corn kernels and lime is added to the food processor and then ground.  It is not!.   … The lime and outer galactic skin of the corn has to be washed out of the corn and this process will take several hours (24 ??).    Heating the lime water just speeds up the process.

Here is a link describing how the Masa dough is made. ref: https://www.mexicanplease.com/nixtamal https://www.mexicanplease.com/nixtamal/     These directions gives the option to grinding & making the dough before the corn is cooked to hominy or after.     MaSeCa maiz states on their bag the masa is ground from Hominy.

Actually, the process is described in parts 5-8 of the recipe (It’s a separate part and listed as Nixtamal).

oops ….  5 to 8 didn’t show up on my screen and I didn’t read that far.      … You actually don’t have to rub the outer husk off the kernel.   The lime or lye will take it off if you let it sit  for several hours and only have to rinse 6 to 8 times until the water is clear.   For large quantity of corn rubbing would take to long.    Anyway my link shows the process.

The link (Alton Brown’s recipe) leaves out how the Nixtamal is actually made.  Some folks might think the dried corn kernels and lime is added to the food processor and then ground.  It is not!.   … The lime and outer galactic skin of the corn has to be washed out of the corn and this process will take several hours (24 ??).    Heating the lime water just speeds up the process.

Here is a link describing how the Masa dough is made. ref: https://www.mexicanplease.com/nixtamal https://www.mexicanplease.com/nixtamal/     These directions gives the option to grinding & making the dough before the corn is cooked to hominy or after.     MaSeCa maiz states on their bag the masa is ground from Hominy.

Actually, the process is described in parts 5-8 of the recipe (It’s a separate part and listed as Nixtamal).

The link (Alton Brown’s recipe) leaves out how the Nixtamal is actually made.  Some folks might think the dried corn kernels and lime is added to the food processor and then ground.  It is not!.   … The lime and outer galactic skin of the corn has to be washed out of the corn and this process will take several hours (24 ??).    Heating the lime water just speeds up the process.

Here is a link describing how the Masa dough is made. ref: https://www.mexicanplease.com/nixtamal https://www.mexicanplease.com/nixtamal/     These directions gives the option to grinding & making the dough before the corn is cooked to hominy or after.     MaSeCa maiz states on their bag the masa is ground from Hominy.

For the past year I’ve been making my tortillas.   They are simple and easy to make using MaSeCa maiz ( & the recipe on the bag). The taste is much better than the store bought soft tortilla rounds and makes great chips for pennies compared to $4 bags of chips.  

… A couple of months ago, I found that the nixtamalization process to make the tortilla flour/dough is the same as making hominy corn using lime or lye. Which I have done a few years ago.    … The commercial process of nixtamalization uses stream to remove the outer husk of the seed instead of lime.  A layer of richness/flavor is lost here.   The hominy is ground into a dough without drying and then sold for immediate use in Mexico.

So how did Mexicans make their tortillas in the US before the grocery stores stocked MaSeCa maiz?     …   I believe they used canned hominy corn and this would help to explain why stores now have #10 cans of Mexican hominy on their shelves.

I do plan to make tortillas soon using canned (Mexican) hominy instead of the dry processed maiz.  The corn can be made into dough using a food processor.      … Yes, likely the hominy corn is a hybrid type, but maybe some genus will realize all they need to do is package the ‘native’ Mexican or ‘Indian’ corn as hominy (nixtamalized) corn.

Alton Brown had an episode many years ago where he made the corn tortillas from scratch (and made the nixtamal from scratch). It’s one I’ve always wanted to try. Here’s his recipe. There must be a video out there, somewhere!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corn-tortillas-recipe-2040369 https://www.foodnetwork.c…rtillas-recipe-2040369

For the past year I’ve been making my tortillas.   They are simple and easy to make using MaSeCa maiz ( & the recipe on the bag). The taste is much better than the store bought soft tortilla rounds and makes great chips for pennies compared to $4 bags of chips.  

… A couple of months ago, I found that the nixtamalization process to make the tortilla flour/dough is the same as making hominy corn using lime or lye. Which I have done a few years ago.    … The commercial process of nixtamalization uses stream to remove the outer husk of the seed instead of lime.  A layer of richness/flavor is lost here.   The hominy is ground into a dough without drying and then sold for immediate use in Mexico.

So how did Mexicans make their tortillas in the US before the grocery stores stocked MaSeCa maiz?     …   I believe they used canned hominy corn and this would help to explain why stores now have #10 cans of Mexican hominy on their shelves.

I do plan to make tortillas soon using canned (Mexican) hominy instead of the dry processed maiz.  The corn can be made into dough using a food processor.      … Yes, likely the hominy corn is a hybrid type, but maybe some genus will realize all they need to do is package the ‘native’ Mexican or ‘Indian’ corn as hominy (nixtamalized) corn.

Thanks for the info..very interesting!

For the past year I’ve been making my tortillas.   They are simple and easy to make using MaSeCa maiz ( & the recipe on the bag). The taste is much better than the store bought soft tortilla rounds and makes great chips for pennies compared to $4 bags of chips.  

… A couple of months ago, I found that the nixtamalization process to make the tortilla flour/dough is the same as making hominy corn using lime or lye. Which I have done a few years ago.    … The commercial process of nixtamalization uses stream to remove the outer husk of the seed instead of lime.  A layer of richness/flavor is lost here.   The hominy is ground into a dough without drying and then sold for immediate use in Mexico.

So how did Mexicans make their tortillas in the US before the grocery stores stocked MaSeCa maiz?     …   I believe they used canned hominy corn and this would help to explain why stores now have #10 cans of Mexican hominy on their shelves.

I do plan to make tortillas soon using canned (Mexican) hominy instead of the dry processed maiz.  The corn can be made into dough using a food processor.      … Yes, likely the hominy corn is a hybrid type, but maybe some genus will realize all they need to do is package the ‘native’ Mexican or ‘Indian’ corn as hominy (nixtamalized) corn.

Yes … while researching how to make tortillas thinner I realized the nixtamalization process described produced ‘hominy’ corn.     Then it didn’t take much to realize why there are so many large #10 cans of Mexican hominy corn on the grocery store shelves and Southern hominy corn has almost disappeared.   At least in my area, anyway ….

Back to thinner tortillas   … handmade tortillas are inherently thicker as the soft round becomes harder to handle as thickness decreases.   So a cook has to find his/her limit.   ….  Very thin tortillas are likely machine made & cooked without handling.     Many Mexican restaurants do use tortilla machines for their tortillas and chips.

I’ve seen the process on TV. Done in small amounts it looks like it takes a lot of time. I would not bother at home. For real Mexican, I go to Cancuns, in, Grafton Mass, for Mexican food made by a Mexican American family. The stuff I make at home is nowhere as good, but it is quick with pre made stuff. I generally don’t make my own bread when I want a sandwich either.

Several seed companies sell the “real” corn, if you want to go all out in making your own.