A waiter comes toward with steaming hot tortillas and puts it before you on a beautiful Talavera plate. And you assume that because they seem so simple, that it is just grilled dough. Wrong. Tortilla making is a science, literally– a lot like titration, and distillation (for tequila), nixtamalization is the process of adding the needed niacin to corn once it is harvested. Without this process, one could contact pellagra due to corn’s deficiency of niacin. The indigenous people of Mexico, therefore, created an alkaline solution of lime and ash, that would allow the kernels to absorb an array of necessary minerals for consumption. Presently, this scientific process has stuck around, especially at Tortillería y Taquería Ramírez, where their mission is to provide traditionally made tortillas– nixtamalizing the corn in-house perpetuating a self-dependent restaurant. This is especially important to the Mexican Community of Lexington, Kentucky that relies on those like Laura Patricia Ramírez to make things feel like home.
Citation:
Arellano, Gustavo. Taco Usa: How Mexican Food Conquered America. New York: Scribner, 2012. Print. 18
Giglio, Frank. “How and Why to Nixtamalize Corn.” Farm & Forage Kitchen, Farm & Forage Kitchen, 29 Oct. 2014, farmandforagekitchen.com/blog/how-and-why-to-nixtamize-corn.
York, Joe, director. Mexington. Southern Foodways Alliance, 11 Oct. 2017, http://www.southernfoodways.org/film/mexington/.
Authentic Taqueria Only 
Yes, that nixtamalization process is one of the greatest contributions that Mesoamerica gives to the world. That technology made its way all across the Americas, but in some parts, it was still growing by the time the Europeans arrived, or so it seems. We’ll learn more about this in some of the later readings for class.
Also, corn, like grapes, grows different in different locations. So the flavors vary by region, and organic corn, like those we tasted in class the other day, have the most intense flavors.
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