PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NIXTAMAL MASA FOR PRODUCING MAIZE PRODUCTS USING A REACTOR THAT DOES NOT PRODUCE EFFLUENTS DURING NIXTAMALIZATION.

摘要

Presented is an improved process for the production of nixtamal masa or dough for producing maize products. This process comprises a plurality of steps, starting from cleaning the grain, this step being of substantial importance since it is raw material used as food, which must be free of toxics such as pesticides, aflatoxin and so on; the second step consists in a dry mill, where homogenous fractions, of approximately the fourth part of the grain, are separated; a third step consists in the nixtamalization of the fractioned grain, which includes three phases: the first phase includes the processing of the fractioned grain, the second phase including the final hydration of the fractioned grain and the third phase the cooling of the nixtmalized mixture; the fourth step consists in milling the fractioned maize grain, already hydrated with the lime solution, by being introduced into a stone mill, finally producing masa with the conditions of the process already known by millers. However, the milling conditions may be slightly different from those for whole grains, where the design of the millstone stripes may be adjusted to ensure the fragmented maize to enter the milling zone in an efficient manner. According to the aforementioned description, the present invention is applied within the processes for manufacturing nixtamal.