----- Original Message -----
From: "Amadeus Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]>
> Niacin in maize (and millet) isn't available without a special treatment

Hominy (aka Nixtamal) it's called, made by soaking/boiling dried, shelled
corn in either lye water (wood ashes + water) or lime water (calcium
carbonate).  I seem to remember the latter method is the more traditional.
(???)  The kernels swell and the indigestible hull is rubbed/squeezed off,
leaving the endosperm and germ.  And the product is dried again. I have the
exact procedures and proportions at home if there are any *neolith* recipe
buffs here. <g>  Masa Harina, used for tortillas and tamales, is the corn
flour that is refined from the Hominy/nixtamal.  It is *NOT* the
degerminated Aunt Jemima corn meal/corn bread so many of us Southerners grew
up on.

Pellagra is the disease caused by heavy consumption of corn that is not
processed.  Nasty business, as Amadeus indicates.   I really have to marvel
how the the native North, Central, and South Americans figured out this
nutritional problem and strategy to overcome it so many thousands of years
ago.

Theola