Masa Harina

Masa harina is the traditional flour used to make tortillas, tamales, and other Mexican dishes. Literally translated from Spanish, it means "dough flour," because the flour is made from dried masa, a dough from specially treated corn.

To make masa harina, field corn (or maize) is dried and then treated in a solution of lime and water, also called slaked lime. This loosens the hulls from the kernels and softens the corn. In addition, the lime reacts with the corn so that the nutrient niacin can be assimilated by the digestive tract.

The soaked maize is then washed, and the wet corn is ground into a dough, called masa. It is this fresh masa, when dried and powdered, that becomes masa harina. (Add water once again to make dough for tortillas or tamales.)

Mixed with water (or sometimes oil), it forms the dough called "masa" that is used to make tortillas. To get that distinctive flavor if you cannot find masa harina, try grinding stale or dry corn tortillas in a food processor until you get a fine powder. If the masa harina is used as a thickener (such as in chili), regular flour or cornmeal will give you the right texture, though the flavor won't be quite the same.

Fresh masa is available in Mexican markets, refrigerated and sold by the pound. Availability and your personal taste determine whether you start with fresh or dried masa.

Do not substitute corn meal or regular corn flour, however; they're produced from different types of corn and are processed differently. They will not produce the same results. Regular wheat flour also cannot be substituted.