Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Cooking maize in slaked lime loosens the hull and makes masa workable. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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Mondo Knows Facts

Nixtamalisation treats corn with lime before grinding

Cooking maize in slaked lime loosens the hull and makes masa workable

Mesoamerican cooks simmer maize in water with slaked lime, or calcium hydroxide, then leave it to steep. The alkali loosens the hull, softens the kernel and frees niacin so the body can use it, while changing the flavour and making the dough plastic enough to press into tortillas. The resulting dough is called masa.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Tags: corn, masa, tortillas

Nixtamalisation treats corn with lime before grinding: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Cooking maize in slaked lime loosens the hull and makes masa workable. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.