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Masa Harina is made from either yellow or white corn. The corn is soaked in water with lime or lye and soaked until the skins loosen and can be easily removed. The corn is then mashed, dried, and ground into flour.

It is very different from cornmeal. It is much finer with a different taste owing to the soaking that the corn received.

It is used to make dough for corn tortillas, or dough for tamales or chalupas, etc.

Maseca is a well-known brand name meaning "masa seca" (dry dough.) They make an instant and a regular Masa Harina. Many people swear by the brand name of Maseca, and it is commonly used every day by millions of Mexicans. In fact, the Maseca company receives hundreds of millions of dollars every year to keep the price down for consumers from CONASUPO (the Mexican government's agency in charge of commodity distribution.) It became somewhat of a scandal: some sources maintained that by 1994, Maseca actually got 43% of its revenue from subsidies. With the instant kind, you don't have to add salt, or knead.

Masa

Masa is masa harina that has been mixed with water into a dough.

Nutrition
Masa Harina is actually more nutritious than cornmeal because of the corn being treated with lime water. See Nutrition in Corn entry.





Language Notes
"Masa" means dough; "harina" means flour.

Also called:

See Also:

Lime (Chemical), Lye, Posole Corn

Other entries for: Corn Flours

Arepa Flour, Blue Corn Flour, Corn Flours, Corn Flour, Masa Harina, Ufa Ngaiwa, Ufa Woyera

Other entries for:

Flour
Ash Content of Flour, Bean Flours, Black Millet Flour, Bromated Flour, Chapati Flour, Durum Flour, Flax Flour, Flour Grades, French Flours, German Flours, Italian Flours, Malanga Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Matzo Meal, Millet Flour, Nut Flours, Oat Flour, Okonomiyaki Flour, Potato Flour, Quinoa Flour, Rice Flour, Rye Flour, Seasoned Flour, Sorghum Flour, Spelt Flour, Stone Ground Flour, Water Chestnut Flour, Wheat Flour, Whole Durum Flour

Related Recipes

Chalupas