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Received Jul 6, 2016; Revised Sep 26, 2016; Accepted Oct 23, 2016
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1. Introduction
Pozole is a pre-Columbian dish widely consumed in Mexico and in the United States by people of Latin American origin [1]. The production of maize for pozole preparation and the consumption of this dish have increased in recent years [2].
The main ingredient of pozole is boiled maize in the form of “flowered grain.” There are two different processes involved in obtaining flowered grains for pozole: the traditional process (TP) and the commercial or industrial process (IP) [3]. Both processes begin with nixtamalization, a thermal-alkaline treatment whose principal purpose is to remove the pedicel and pericarp from the grain. In TP, nixtamalization is carried out with Ca(OH)2, which hydrolyzes the pericarp, while, in IP, a mixture of Ca(OH)2 and NaOH is used to remove both the pedicel and pericarp. In TP, the cooked grain (nixtamal) is steeped for 8–16 h. It is then washed to eliminate the pericarp as well as the pedicel (deheaded), and finally the debranned nixtamal is boiled, causing the grain to swell and open up into a flower shape (flowered grain) [1, 3–6]. In IP, the debranned nixtamal is washed and the pedicel is removed immediately (deheaded). The grains are then bleached in a solution of sodium metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) and acetic acid (CH3COOH) and packed, obtaining a product ready to be cooked (bleached precooked grain) until it flowers when used by the end consumer [2, 3].
In Mexico, about sixteen maize landraces are used in the preparation of flowered grains for pozole [2, 7–10]. Many of these landraces, including Cacahuacintle, Ancho, Elotes Occidentales, and Jala, are known as “specialty maize landraces,” which means they are preferred over hybrids or improved varieties for the preparation of specific food or dishes like pozole [2, 8, 10, 11].
Bonifacio Vázquez et al. [4] studied the relationship between physical grain characteristics of the Cacahuacintle landrace and the quality of the flowered grain for pozole prepared by TP. They found...
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