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Hominy, lye, lime, soda etc.

 
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Jack
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:23 pm    Post subject: Hominy, lye, lime, soda etc. Reply with quote

Hominy is made by soaking dried corn in lye, soda, potash, slaked lime, KOH or NAOH and I am trying to find reasons for choosing one over the other.

The info from the typical search is an endless stream of bad info and contradictions.

It appears that the lime process takes more soaking/cooking time than using either form of lye but the reason for KOH vs NAOH escapes me.

It all may boil down to primitive methods of making "lye" from wood ashes.

I would like to know get a engineer's/chemist's opinion and also info on health hazard differences that may exist.

Thanks,

Jack
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

all of those chemicals are strong bases - high pH values.

KOH = potassium hydroxide = potash
NaOH = sodium hydroxide = lye, caustic soda
CaOH2 = slaked lime

KOH and NaOH are typically stronger than CaOH2 - which is why using lime takes longer.
in the end, they all 'do the same job'

the purity of the stock will also affect the length of time needed.

all three can be extremely hazardous to handle if you don't know what you're doing.

lye is often used for pretzel making - and the internet experts go absolute bonkers over how dangerous it is.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dilbert wrote:
all of those chemicals are strong bases - high pH values.

lye is often used for pretzel making - and the internet experts go absolute bonkers over how dangerous it is.


To further confuse, my wife says that baking soda is used in pretzels not lye.

I have been making soap since I was a kid and learned a lot about it over the years. Even made some KOH from wood ashes. Not very practical as a 5 gallon bucket of ash produces enough lye to saponify about a teaspoon of oil.

I made some hominy using NAOH yesterday and used middle of the road processing times and it turned out great just using field corn. I nipped 3 ears from the field across the road and it worked so wellTh that I am going to offer to buy some more from the farmer when he comes to harvest it.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Jack
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

people used baking soda for pretzels because it's so scary to use lye.

lye is the traditional / real way - baking soda is a substitute.
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