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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Videos / How to Make Limewater for Soaking Corn (+ VIDEO)

How to Make Limewater for Soaking Corn (+ VIDEO)

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links โœ”

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Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Why Soak Corn?+−
    • Masa Harina?
  • Recipes using Soaked Corn

How to make limewater for soaking corn in accordance with traditional Native American cultures for improved digestibility and bioavailability of nutrients.

limewater

Corn has a bad rap these days primarily due to the pervasive presence of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the food supply. This frankenfood is generally made with GMO corn and laced with mercury residue from processing. (1)

Itย is in the majority of processed foods and drinks and is being blamed for all sorts of health woes including a role in the obesity epidemic.

The truth is, however, that corn is a traditional food! When high quality, nonGMO corn is sourced and prepared properly using limewater, it can be both delicious and healthy!

And, if you are a Southern gal like me, you like your corn โ€“ am I right?

Grits andย homemade cornbread anyone?

Why Soak Corn?

Soaking corn or cornmeal overnight in limewater releases Vitamin B3. It also improves the amino acid profile of the corn making for easier digestion.

Note, you do not have to soak cornstarch. The reason is that the nutritional value ofย cornstarch is very low as it is basically just pure carbohydrate.

If whole food forms of corn are a staple in your diet, then soaking in limewater is a must. The disease pellagra is caused by Vitamin B3 deficiency.ย  Symptoms of pellagra include sore skin, mental problems, and fatigue. Most doctors fail to ever diagnose it!

Even if you donโ€™t eat corn that frequently, limewater is easy to make and lasts for a long time in the refrigerator or cool pantry. Why not soak your corn to create homemade corn dishes? It is an easy to do step that improves the nutrition and digestibility of the meal.

In the video included with the recipe below, I show you how to make limewater using the Nourishing Traditionsย method. It is the proper soaking medium for corn in North and South American traditional societies. The healthy, strong, and fierce Seminole Tribe of Florida, for example, sustained themselves primarily on soaked corn gruel.

Masa Harina?

Note that preparing masa harina is slightly different. This type of corn flour has already been treated with lime. Thus, limewater is not needed, however, it will still require soaking in a slightly acidic medium like buttermilk or water with a squeeze of lemon juice. This serves to deactivate anti-nutrients like phytic acid.

limewater
4.8 from 5 votes
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Homemade Limewater Recipe

How to make limewater using the traditional method that will create more nutritious and digestible corn based dishes for your family. Can also be sipped as a beverage for extra calcium!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings 4 cups
Author Sarah Pope

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbl dolomite powder
  • filtered water
  • 1 quart mason jar

Instructions

  1. Spoon dolomite powder into a 1 quart mason jar. It should be spread evenly about 1/2 inch deep at the bottom of the jar.

  2.  Fill the mason jar with filtered water. Leave about 1 inch at the top.

  3. Screw on the lid tightly and turn a few times to mix the dolomite powder in the water.

  4. Leave the jar on the counter until the dolomite fully settles out at the bottom of the jar. This will take a few hours, and then the water will be clear.

  5. Place the jar in the refrigerator or cool pantry. Use this water for soaking corn and corn flour for any corn based dishes. 

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Use 1 cup of limewater for every 2 cups of corn or cornmeal for making cornbread, corn casserole and other corn based dishes.

Pour the limewater out of the mason jar carefully - you don't want to use the lime that has settled at the bottom, only the limewater. Soaking for 12-24 hours is sufficient to release the nutrients but cornbread in particular will rise better if soaked for 24 hours.

diy limewater in a mason jar on a wooden table

Recipes using Soaked Corn

With your limewater ready to go, here are a few recipes to try that require the soaking of corn flour and meal.

  • gluten-free cornbread
  • corn tortillas recipe
  • homemade corn flakes cereal
  • homemade corn dogs
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Category: Gluten Free Recipes, Grain Recipes, Traditional Preparation of Grains, Videos
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (133)

  1. Nandarani

    Mar 17, 2018 at 12:20 am

    5 stars
    This throws a bit of a problem into the discussion but here is my observation over the last 36 hours or so! I conducted an experiment with trusty baking soda, alkali. Put 1 cup of yellow cornmeal into a container, added 1 cup of water, and a generous teaspoon of baking soda. I wanted to see whether the mixture would turn orange, as I’d read that nixtamalization does this to corn kernels treated with lime water or at least deepens the color. I had a control, without the baking soda. The baking soda solution turned the color of turmeric – at least the soak water did; it’s kind of hard to distinguish the grains from the soak water and soaking continues. I added the control to the darker colored solution, and some more baking soda. Plan to use this Sunday for a main meal.

    Corn is a bit stimulating as a grain, I read. No wonder I couldn’t sleep that well after eating it, and it also is a diuretic. But, the color is wonderful and maybe with the new routine, it will evoke a more mellow response with me. It is good for the physical and the spiritual heart, I read.

    Blue corn is entirely different; different nutritional profile entirely, just about. Different type of selenium, and different amino acid profile, protein profile. It seems more calming to me. I use grains because I like the taste and the calming effects very much, as do others I am sure.

    Reply
  2. Ann

    Feb 1, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    The Indians of the America’s used wood ash lime which is caustic to process corn to release the much needed B vitamin niacin…Such lime is pure since the fire burning the wood can be 500 degrees and destroys any germs. Ground up dolomite limestone is not caustic and gives you calcium and may be pure but it doesn’t do a thing for helping the niacin bound up in the corn be digestable. Corn soaked in it is not true masa corn. For those interested google nixtamalization– it even includes the word tamali in it, how neat is that!

    Reply
  3. Newbie with health

    Feb 20, 2017 at 8:44 am

    Can you buy cornmeal or you need to grind up soaked corn? To make cornbread from cornmeal can you soak the cornmeal overnight?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Feb 20, 2017 at 11:05 am

      Cornmeal goes rancid very quickly, so it is best to grind your own.

  4. Dani

    Dec 29, 2016 at 7:05 pm

    Is this something I can do to prepare popcorn kernels?

    Reply
  5. Andrea

    Nov 2, 2016 at 9:57 pm

    Hi, I’m making a cornbread mix and I want to soak it in lime water first. Does the lime water -replace- the amount of milk called for in the recipe?
    If the lime water does not replace the milk, then won’t there end up being too much liquid in the mix? My mix calls for 1 cup of milk. So I would have 1 cup of lime water as well as 1 cup of milk, which would make twice the liquid. Sorry, just trying to understand. Also, nourishing traditions says to soak in lime water and then soak it in kefir after that. So, would I soak it in 1 cup of lime water and then add a cup of kefir to soak longer?
    Thanks so much!

    Reply
  6. Ninke

    Oct 8, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    Sarah, great video! Question: For the soaking process, I use 1 cup of lime water for every 2 cups of cornmeal. Do I add more water for the soak? And then rinse it before using? Or just soak the 2 cups of cornmeal in 1 cup of limewater and use as is?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Oct 9, 2016 at 12:14 pm

      Don’t use more water. Use the soaked flour as is once the soaking is complete.

  7. Julie

    Aug 31, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Can I reuse the lime multiple times?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Aug 31, 2016 at 4:26 pm

      The dolomite gets really hard when it settles on the bottom of the mason jar, so I would use a fresh batch.

    • Julie

      Sep 2, 2016 at 12:53 am

      I am using pickling lime (calcium hydroxide) and when I shook the jar, it was nearly as powdery as the first time, so would this indicate that it is ok to use again? Also, should I then soak the corn in whey along with ground rye to break down the phytic acid? Thank you.

  8. Ja

    Nov 27, 2015 at 2:01 am

    I was wondering if I took the KAL Dolomite Tablets, 250.4 mg, 500 Count
    from Kal before eating corn meal/bread/tortilla’s etc… would that be as good? Since I don’t eat that much of the corn products…

    Great site, just wondering….

    Ja

    Reply
  9. clare

    Jun 28, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    Wondering if anyone notices a difference between using calcium carbonate (dolomite powder) vs calcuim hydroxide (pickling lime)? I soaked my dent corn in both and the calcium carbonate did nothing while the calcium hydroxide disolved the outer skins of the corn and turned the water yellow. Guess I should stick to the calcium hydroxide.

    Reply
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