Corn Tortilla
SuperFood
Corn Tortilla
Corn is included as a vegetable in Chapter 2, yet corn’s history as a grain is far longer.
As a grain, corn is allowed to mature and is dried. People long ago learned to treat the corn with slaked lime (an alkali) to remove the outer hulls and soften the grains enough to make them more palatable. This treatment also improves the nutritional value of dried corn by converting the niacin into a form that the body can more easily absorb. Depending on the process used, such a treatment may also increase the amount of certain minerals in the corn.
In addition to the improved availability of niacin, corn tortillas offer some other B vitamins necessary to metabolism—thiamine, pantothenic acid, and folate.
Nutritional Facts :
One corn tortilla provides 70 calories, 14 g carbohydrate, 2 g protein, 1 g fat, 1.5 g dietary fiber, 2 mg calcium, and 0.36 mg iron.