Nixtamalization of maize
Nixtamalización del maíz
- Date
- c. 1200 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Pacific coast, Escuintla, Guatemala
- Credited to
- Mesoamerican peoples of the Formative period
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Cooking maize with lime or ash releases niacin, improves the amino-acid profile and allows a cohesive dough to be ground. It prevented pellagra and made tortillas and tamales possible.
The date of origin is uncertain; it rests on finds of comales and Formative-period remains on the Guatemalan Pacific coast. The link with pellagra was understood in the 20th century.
What it led to
- tortillas and tamales as the base of the Mesoamerican diet
- the prevention of pellagra, which ravaged Europe when maize was adopted without nixtamalisation
- the nixtamalised maize-flour industry