365 IN 365 - Will it Air Fry?!

Jennifer Armstrong is the creator of this series of posts, published bi-monthly, entitled 365 in 365. These posts will help guide us all as we accept the 6D opportunity to diversify our plants in order to nurture and nourish our microbiome and thus improve our health and wellness. You can join us for this year-long event either via our 365 Facebook group or by following along via our 365 website page.

Following my own advice to seek out grocery stores that I don’t habitually shop at, I went to one of the BIG supermarkets in town and went very slowly up and down the aisles, looking for new options. My glance landed on canned hominy, and without a clue what to do with it, I chucked it in the cart.

So, a little research online told me that hominy is dried corn kernels (a whole grain) which has been cooked in an alkaline solution. This is an ancient technique called nixtamalization (a word and a technique rooted in Mesoamerica) which softens the grain and boosts the niacin availability in the corn. How many generations of experimentation led to this technique? Fascinating to speculate, isn’t it? Nixtamalized corn is also called pozole, and when ground it becomes the flour known as masa, used for tamales and tortillas. In American Southern cuisine, coarsely ground hominy is known as grits.

Instructions advised draining and rinsing the hominy before use, and then patting it dry. I tried a plain hominy kernel - soft and mealy, no distinct flavor. I found lots of recipes on-line for hominy stews and such, but I wondered if it could be made crunchy, like roasted chickpeas.

One great advantage of eating whole plant foods is that most of them are pretty cheap; experimentation doesn’t involve a whole lot of risk. So I tossed them with some Well Your World Chili Lime spice blend and popped it into the air fryer.

I was doing some other cooking things while it was in the air fryer, and after about ten minutes I reached in and plucked out a kernel to test it. A little chewy. Far from crispy. I continued met other kitchen chores. And at 20 minutes, I heard a distinct pop! Sure enough, the hominy kernels were jiggling - nothing as dramatic as popcorn, but one at a time they gave a little twitch as the steam puffed out. I decided let it keep going - and pulled out a scoop at 25 minutes, and let the rest go for a total of 30 minutes.

Once they cooled they were distinctly crunchy! I tossed a handful into my lunch salad, where they added a crunchy/chewy contrast to my vegetables. The 25 minute air-fried pozole was just about right; the 30 minute pozole had quite a few charred-looking bits. They were at 430 F. A different temperature at a different length of time might even things out. That’s an experiment for another day.

Not every kitchen adventure turns out happily, but this one did! Will I make it a regular part of my diet? Probably not. But next time I pass the Hispanic foods section at the market, I’ll have one more food I can vary my meals with.  

About Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong has spent her life making things; she has had a long career of writing books for children, decades of gardening, painting, making music, and cooking. A 2023 graduate of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies course in Plant- Based Nutrition, she has also combined her interest in sustainability with her love of food by learning how to can and dehydrate, saving as much of the local harvest as possible for use throughout the year.  She lives in upstate New York.

Jennifer is both a blog writer and event moderator at 6D Living. Her blog post series 365 in 365 will explore how we can all diversify and improve our microbiome. Jennifer is also an administrator for our public, world-wide event of the same name. This free event is a year long community activity with one goal only - get more people on the planet a wider variety of plants.

About our 6D Community Activity - 365 in 365

This is a 365 day challenge to try 365 different plants in your nutritional routine over the next 365 days. We will explore new and known plants, share their nutritional benefits as well as recipes so we can all enjoy the splendor of the plant world and improve our health - as a united community.

We know that the diversity of plants we eat determines our microbiome health, which in turn determines our overall health and wellness. Our goal at 365 in 365 is to try to get as many different plants as possible into our bodies over the year - steadily becoming healthier together.

We invite all our members to share recipes, new plants they have 'discovered' for themselves as well as resources where we can all find these wonderful gifts from nature no matter where we live in the world.

This is an international plant-based community for curious minds which want to learn how to be healthier, happier and more balanced in their lives. This is a group of hope and encouragement for all sentient beings on the planet we call home. This activity/event is taking place both on Facebook as well as our 6D Blog - you can join via either venue, or join both by sharing your journey through comments and posts!

Be well

Stop.Breathe.Focus.Move.Flow.