Nixtamalisation: The Transformation of Corn

Nixtamalisation was developed in Mesoamerica approximately 3,000 years ago — it was a prerequisite for the corn-based civilisations of the Aztec and Maya. When the Spanish brought corn to Europe without the accompanying knowledge of nixtamalisation, the resulting pellagra epidemics in rural Italy, Spain, and southern France in the 18th–19th centuries killed tens of thousands.

Nixtamalisation (from the Nahuatl nextli — lime-treated corn — and tamalli — corn dough) — the alkaline treatment of dried corn with calcium hydroxide (cal, food-grade lime) — is one of the most important discoveries in human culinary and nutritional history. The process transforms dried corn at the molecular level: the alkaline environment (pH 11–12) dissolves the corn kernel's pericarp (outer hull), gelatinises some of the starch, and — most critically — releases niacin (vitamin B3) from its bound form in the corn's protein matrix. Without nixtamalisation, a diet based on corn produces pellagra (niacin deficiency). Every civilisation that adopted corn without nixtamalisation suffered pellagra epidemics.

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