Alkaline cooking, preparation and quality of corn tortilla from Ecatlan, Puebla, Mexico

The varieties of maize obtained by breeding are generally inappropriate for peasants crop conditions; they prefer native breed of maize, organized in genetic groups (components), called varietal patterns, according to environmental conditions and uses. The knowledge of quality criteria used for obtaining native breed contributes to finding varieties acceptable for tortilla preparation. For those reasons, nixtamalization (cooking of maize with lime) and the processing of tortilla were studied with respect to quality in a community in the State of Puebla, Mexico. Samples of native varieties were collected, and a group of local housewives was invited to prepare nixtamal (cooked maize) and make tortillas with their own maize variety (style-variety). There was great variation in most of the studied variables. Relationships between the components of the varietal pattern and the proportion of hardness and dough adhesiveness, as well as reflectance, and extending and cooking time of the tortilla were detected. The maize varieties of white grain showed high magnitudes, those of blue grain low, and the yellow ones had intermediate values.