Subject: Re: "Cole" flour

From: [email-masked] (Cameron Laird)
Date: 23 Nov 92 03:06:36 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Justin M. Sanders) writes:
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>     "Cole" flour was made in this way:  common ashes were sifted into
>     a pot or kettle and heated until the ashes boiled like plaster of
>     paris; shelled corn was poured into the boiling ashes, and stirred
>     until the grain could be broken between the fingers.  It was then
>     poured out into a sheet and sifted to separate the ashes from the
>     corn.  The corn was then ground (we used steel mills) into meal,
>     and it was ready for use.  It was eaten dry or stirred in water
>     or made into mush, and its use was very common in the early days
>     of Texas.
>
>Since the ashes are a source of lye, the meal produced by this method
>is probably similar to hominy grits.  The point that puzzles me is
>why go to all this trouble?  Why not simply grind the plain corn?  Is
>there some advantage to corn treated in this way?
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Yes.  It's prophylaxis against pellagra.

It's a long and interesting story, one you should
be able to pursue yourself by looking up "pellagra".
The outline is something like this:  corn can be so
inexpensive that the impoverished in some areas eat
little else (current problem centers include parts
of South Africa, lower Egypt, and southwestern India).
Such people don't receive sufficient niacin, and they
experience diarrhea, mental degeneration, and skin
lesions.

However, an alkaline environment mobilizes the niacin
that is otherwise indigestibly bound in corn.  Pel-
lagra hasn't been a problem, apparently, among Native
Americans for some thousands of years, because they
share the cultural practice of ash-washing.

I've simplified the story.  There are co-factors in
the absorption of niacin, there's a sub-plot about
the protein quality of corn, there is research on the
chemistry that remains to be done, and there's plenty
of social history.  If we decide to discuss this more,
we probably should cross-post to sci.bio or some other
appropriate groups.
-- 

Cameron Laird
[email-masked] ([email-masked])	+1 713 267 7966
[email-masked] ([email-masked])  	+1 713 996 8546