10:00 AM-12:00 PM Saturday, 10 August 2024

Red Salmon Arts, Casa de Resistencia Books, 2000 Thrasher Ln, Austin TX

Sponsored by Red Salmon Arts and Central Texas Cherokee Township

Learn how to get the most nutrition out of your corn harvest with the traditional technique of nixtamalization. This ancient process dissolves the hard outer kernel coating and adds calcium, making it easily digestible. The process was developed in Mesoamerica and is practiced by numerous corn growing cultures, including the Cherokee. The process produces hominy which can be added whole to soups like pozole, ground into grits / cornmeal, or ground fine into masa for tortillas and tamales. Help create food sovereignty and security in our community by learning and passing on this important cultural knowledge.

The process lasts overnight, participants will see the start of a batch of hominy and learn about the various ways that is can be achieved. When that batch is ready to rest, a previous prepared batch in the second day stage will be washed and strained to finish the process. Depending on size participants will be able to sample and take home the prepared hominy or if the equipment is available hominy can be ground into masa. The CTCT will acquire a few pounds of whole corn, depending on size, participants will be able to take some for home processing.