Calories in Tamale, pork

What makes tamale so powerful?

When corn is treated with an alkaline solution like slaked lime or wood ash, it undergoes nixtamalization. This process hydrolyzes the hemicellulose in the pericarp, allowing the corn to be ground into a cohesive dough known as masa that can hold a filling. Without this chemical transformation, corn lacks the binding properties needed to wrap around meat. More importantly, nixtamalization unbinds niacin, or vitamin B3, preventing the nutritional deficiency disease pellagra, while also significantly increasing the bioavailability of calcium. Pork tamales specifically combine this nixtamalized masa with a savory pork filling, often simmered in a chili-based sauce. The corn husks used to wrap them act as a steam-permeable barrier, keeping the masa moist while allowing it to cook through without drying out. This ancient packaging method preserves the structural integrity of the dough during the multi-hour steaming process, a technique developed in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago that remains largely unchanged today.