ISSUE 40, HOLIDAY GIFTS, Part 4: Longhouse Hominy Grits & Whole Hominy
Longhouse Hominy Grits & Whole Hominy
Hominy Grits are made from dried down corn that have been lye-treated (nixtamalized) and then ground coarse. The lye treating of corn, a Native American mode of processing, prevents the one great nutritional liability of maize, the fact that it doesn’t dispense niacin into your body when you eat it. Niacin deficiency cause that old southern disease pellagra. Lye treating destroys the chemical bonds that prevents the corn’s niacin from being absorbed through your digestive system.
Dirty little secret: since the 1890s most of the grits produced in the South, whether called hominy grits or not, is just dried down meal corn. Some parts of the South kept the hickory ash and water treatments going, having learned the Native Americans’ lesson, others did not. In the 19th century hominy grits was also called “small hominy.” “Big hominy” was the lye processed whole kernels of white corn—what is called Posole in the Southwest.
Besides making corn nutritive, nixtamalizing it gives it a richer flavor. If you start with a great traditional Native Corn such as Tuscarora White, Sea Island White Flint, or Virginia White Gourdseed Corn . . . and then ash treat it, you have an extraordinary flavor experience.
There is a Mohawk chef in upstate South Carolina who has revived the traditional processes and is now offering small batches of nixtamalized hominy grits and also masa flour. Dave Smoak-McCluskey is part of the Native food revival that is happening in the United States. He is a grower as well as a processor and chef. For years he and I have been trading information on old corn, old beans, and old squashes. He is one of that group of food people who knows that the old flavors from the old varieties are true signatures of healthfulness.
I’ve wanted to give a heads up about his product, and suggest that if you are looking for a special holiday gift—one that has cultural resonance as well as exceptional flavor, that the item linked below is something to consider seriously.
https://corn-mafia.square.site/s/order?item=6
I’ve depicted some of his whole hominy (posole) above.