One grain, a thousand tables

Why masa harina, precooked cornmeal and fresh corn are not interchangeable.

Corn appears in an extraordinary range of dishes across the Americas. But a bag labeled corn flour does not tell you enough to choose the right ingredient. The treatment of the grain changes its flavor, texture and behavior in a dough.

Masa harina is made from nixtamalized corn: grain treated with an alkaline solution, washed, ground and dried. Rehydrated with water, it becomes a dough suited to tortillas and many other masa preparations. It is not simply finely ground raw corn.

Precooked cornmeal, commonly used for Venezuelan and many Colombian arepas, has been cooked before being dried and ground. It absorbs warm water readily. Substituting raw cornmeal in the same proportions can leave a gritty, undercooked center.

Fresh sweet corn brings moisture and sweetness of its own. A humita in a baking dish, a chipa guasú and a corn pancake rely on that freshness, though they differ in ingredients and method. Frozen corn can be a useful substitute if thawed and drained.

Read the ingredient label before beginning. When a recipe specifies a particular corn product, the name is part of the method, not a minor preference. Start with the right grain and the rest of the recipe becomes much more predictable.