Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

I tend to cook a lot of southwestern and Mexican dishes. We love hominy and put it in most of our soups that have a Mexican flavoring or even in chilli. I looked up hominy to see how it is made/processed but I am still not sure I understand it.

Is it considered a whole grain? Should I be careful about how much we eat? I don't see it anywhere on the lists.

I first heard of it a few years ago when former forum member Letha started posting MWLP recipes using it in casseroles and stews. It looks like a whole grain to me when I opened the can.

According to WikiPedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy
it's a whole grain (maize) that's been soaked in lye then dried. That's all - no other processing.

Of course there's products made with it, like hominy grits, made by grinding the dried maize into a sandy form, and into a powder called masa.

I made hominy years ago. I would consider it a whole food. Some even say that corn is more digestible after cooking it with the lime.

Reminds me that I do have some dried field corn and lime I bought specifically to make hominy. I'll have to dig those out of the pantry. I think I still have some roasted chicos, too.

I like hominy, even though it's hard to get past the whole lye thing. But it is very high in sodium, so I don't eat it often--something to bear in mind if that's an issue for you.

LoriLynn wrote:I tend to cook a lot of southwestern and Mexican dishes. We love hominy and put it in most of our soups that have a Mexican flavoring or even in chilli. I looked up hominy to see how it is made/processed but I am still not sure I understand it.

Is it considered a whole grain? Should I be careful about how much we eat? I don't see it anywhere on the lists.

It's basically the stuff corn tortillas are made from. For hominy, the hulls are sometimes (usually?) removed.
http://wholegrainscouncil.org/node/7562/print
http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/tortill ... xtamal.htm
http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/introto ... a/corn.htm

Mary McDougall has a recipe for Red Posole here that calls for hominy: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2010nl/feb/recipes.htm

Whole grain or not, it's starch, and I eat it.

I'm making Letha's Hominy Casserole tonight, myself:

http://mwlfood.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/446/

for the recipe and photos on Letha's MWLP blog.

Any idea how much sodium remains after draining and rinsing carefully?

Langeranger wrote:Any idea how much sodium remains after draining and rinsing carefully?

Still quite a lot--taste it! It tastes very salty.

VeggieSue wrote:I'm making Letha's Hominy Casserole tonight, myself:

http://mwlfood.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/446/

for the recipe and photos on Letha's MWLP blog.

Thanks for the recipe. It looks good and easy so I may try it soon. I'll be sure to watch the salt. I don't have high blood pressure, but I do know that salty foods (which I LOVE) tend to make me eat more. I try to keep my sodium intake below recommended levels.

If you're worried about the sodium in canned hominy, you could try frozen nixtamal--hominy posole. I've seen it at Walmart and Fry's (Kroger). It may be available in your area. It doesn't have salt added. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Albuquerque-T ... z/11985492 You might also find it unfrozen, usually in/near the meat section of the store, especially near holidays. This might be a lot more common in areas with a large Hispanic population. Here, we have many Ranch Markets stores. http://prosranch.com/default.aspx I haven't been there in a couple years, though. I should wander over and see what's new.

The frozen nixtamal is not like opening and heating up a can of hominy though. It takes much longer to cook.

Goya canned hominy is the *only* hominy sold around here, so that's what I use and rinse it well. I use no salt added tomato products and will use frozen instead of canned green beans, and never add salt, so the sodium is really cut down from how Letha wrote the recipe.

For canned hominy (and beans), try soaking in plain water for a while to lower the sodium even more than rinsing. I can't say for sure that it is a huge improvement over rinsing only but based on taste tests, the beans or hominy do seem to be less salty after soaking a while and then draining.