The only holiday Mikey and I celebrate during this time of year is the solstice. However yesterday we were invited to the home of good friends for a very sweet family Xmas party. We thoroughly enjoyed it and noticed some of the ways that Christmas in New Mexico differs from New York. In New Mexico the century plants large stalk has replaced the Christmas pine tree. And pisoli has replace the ham dinner. Pisoli is made with hominy and traditionally with pork too. Hominy, as I understand it, is a tough corn product that people were able to grow off season in winter here in our area. It's very yummy and the century plant adds a whimsical bit of Dr. Seuss to the mix.
2 comments:
Hominy is corn that's been treated with a sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide (obtained from wood ash) solution to remove the hulls, and improve the digestibility. The process is described as nixtamalization, from the Aztec word- nixtamalli- for Hominy.
The resultant corn product (Hominy) can be used to make flour for tortillas, corn chips or used by itself as either "grits" or in various stews and soups.
Nixtamalization allows one to survive on a diet primarily of corn, otherwise the corn's nutrients would simply be too hard to digest, and malnutrition would set in.
starsquid gave an excellent short explanation of what is called in Mexico "pozole"
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