[Aztlan] Modern Yucatec Maya Pozole

[David Hixson]

My apologies for this continued diversion into Maya
edibles...

Would anyone mind telling me if I can make a Yucatec
Maya style pozole using items found in a U.S. grocery
store or latino food market (also in the U.S.)?

**Please respond to me off-list and I'll happily
provide others with the recipe if I'm successful.**

This is not to be confused with central mexican Pozole
(which is more like a dinner soup).  Yucatec Maya
pozole is basically corn dough, brought to the milpa
by Maya men in a large ball, then mixed with cold
(tepid) water in a gourd or bowl.  It is usually eaten
half way between sunrise and siesta (ca. 10:30-11am),
when the day is about to get unbearably hot.

I've found that mixing a ball of pozole into water in
the middle of the monte is certainly the best field
lunch possible - lots of carbs, lots of water, and
oh-so-good with some honey or sugar (or the Maya
tradition of rock salt and habaneros).

I simply don't know the right ingredients to buy to
make the dough in Maryland (however, I'm far from the
perfect cook).  All I know is that the Maya of Yucatan
made "ok" pozole from "MASECA" but GREAT pozole from
scratch.  I'd settle for "ok" (or even "less-than-ok"
from the U.S. ingredients).

Is the ball of corn dough for Yucatec Maya pozole the
same as central mexican "nixtamal"?

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate
them (as would my fellow archaeologists working in the
summer heat of southern Maryland, who are dying to try
this Maya staple).

-Dave


       
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