Corn is a magnificent grain, and the love of our lives here at Santa Anna’s.
The earliest iteration of corn dates back to 8000 years ago. The crop was domesticated in the Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico.
Corn relies on us humans to propagate and to process so that we can get the best out of this vegetable.
In order to do this, we follow the traditional 3500 year old process developed by the Mesoamericans called Nixtamalization.
Nixtamalization = Nix = ash (we use calcium hydroxide) and tamale = cooked maize
The process goes like this;
- We get our certified organic corn (dried) delivered from the Northern Cape. Yes, we use LOCALLY GROWN ORGANIC corn! This corn is harvested when at the correct moisture content and the corn kernels arrive bagged in 1 ton bags at Santa Anna’s HQ.
- We soak the corn in heated water and calcium hydroxide, turning it into what is traditionally called nixtamal.
- Step 2 softens the corn, after which the outer shell, known as the pericarp, can be removed. This makes the nutrients easier to absorb and the corn more digestible, it also unlocks bound nutrients such as niacin, and eliminates much of the anti-nutrient phytic acid allowing you to absorb all the minerals in the corn.
- We turn this corn into our product range.
All of our corn goes through this process, ensuring that you enjoy our corn chips, tortillas and tacos. Delicious and nutritious.
Gees.