Dent, Flour or Blue? How to Choose the Best Corn for Masa Harina

Every bag of masa harina starts as whole dried corn. The kernels are cooked and soaked in water with cal (calcium hydroxide, also sold as slaked or pickling lime), rinsed, ground into masa, then dried and milled into flour. That lime-cooking step is nixtamalization, and it is what turns corn into a dough that holds together as a tortilla. If you want to make masa from scratch, the first decision is which corn to buy.

It is not the corn you eat off the cob. Sweet corn is grown to be eaten fresh, while masa is made from field corn left on the stalk until the kernels are hard and dry. This guide explains which kinds of dried corn work for nixtamal at home, names the bags worth buying online, and covers the cal you will need alongside them.

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Quick verdict: the corn and cal to buy

Below: the five standout picks side by side, then all seven reviewed in full, with how much cal to use and how the process works.

Five picks for homemade masa at a glance

Our five standout picks, one for each kind of home masa maker, with the details each listing or maker states. All seven picks are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Details are as stated by each listing or maker; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best corn for masa harina

Five of these picks are whole, dried field corn, the hard mature kernels that nixtamalize well; two are the cal that makes the process work. We could not find a well-identified white dent corn in stock on Amazon, the classic corn for Mexican tortillas, so the corn picks here are yellow and blue. Each one says what the listing states, who it suits, and one honest reason to pass on it.

How to choose corn for masa at home

Five things decide whether a bag of corn will make good masa. Organic and heirloom labels are worth having, but they come after the basics.

1. Field corn, never sweet corn

Buy mature, dried field corn. New Mexico State University notes that sweet corn is grown for fresh eating, not feed or flour, and holds far more sugar than field corn. Dried or freeze-dried sweet corn, sold as a snack or for casseroles, will not make masa.

2. Dent or flour corn, rather than flint or popcorn

Corn is grouped by its kernels. NMSU describes flint kernels as hard and glassy, flour corn as soft starch with thin skins, and dent as in between, with flinty sides and soft cores. Soft starch takes up lime and water readily and grinds smoothly, which is why dent and flour corns are the usual choices for masa; forager and cookbook author Hank Shaw ranks flour corn first, then dent, then flint, with popcorn last.

3. Color

White corn is the classic choice for Mexican tortillas and gives a pale masa; yellow gives a golden masa with a stronger corn flavor; blue gives blue-gray tortillas. Masienda notes that its heirloom colors all work for any masa recipe. Our masa harina for tortillas guide covers how each color behaves as a flour.

4. Whole, clean kernels

Whole kernels cook evenly. Broken ones soften faster than the rest, and debris or chaff should be picked out before cooking. Listings that say the corn is cleaned, as Henry Moore’s does, save you time.

5. How often you will make masa

A first batch needs a kilogram or two of corn. If you plan to make tortillas every week, a 15-pound bag makes sense; if not, buy 5 pounds and freeze what you do not use.

How we picked these seven

We started from what nixtamal asks of corn: mature, dried field corn with enough soft starch to take up lime, plus food-grade cal. We searched Amazon US for whole dried corn and calcium hydroxide and checked every pick was in stock through Amazon’s product data. We kept bags from identifiable farms, mills and brands whose listings state the kind of corn and its use, and we confirmed how the process works from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s account of lime-cooking, corn types from New Mexico State University’s guide to specialty corns, and cal handling from NMSU’s pickling guide. We left out sweet and freeze-dried corn, popcorn, distillers’ corn sold for whiskey, a 1-ounce heirloom sample, white and blue corn from sellers listed only as “Generic”, already-processed hominy, and cal from sellers with no identifiable brand. Masienda’s heirloom whole corn, a favorite of many masa makers, is sold on its own website rather than Amazon. We have not nixtamalized every corn listed here; where we describe how corn behaves, we say whose findings those are.

From kernel to masa: how nixtamal works

The FAO describes the traditional rural Mexican process like this: one part whole corn to two parts of roughly 1 percent lime solution, heated to about 80°C (176°F) for 20 to 45 minutes, then left to stand overnight. The next day the corn is washed two or three times to remove the loosened skins, tip caps and excess lime. The washed corn is nixtamal.

1. Weigh the corn and cal. Masienda’s starting point is cal at 1 percent of the corn’s weight: 10 grams of cal for 1 kilogram of corn. Stir the cal into plenty of water in a non-reactive pot before adding the corn.
2. Simmer, then rest. Bring it up to a gentle simmer and cook until the skins loosen and the kernels have softened on the outside but still have a firm center, then leave the corn in its liquid overnight. Masienda notes the corn brightens in color as the alkali works.
3. Wash. Drain and rinse the corn, rubbing it between your hands to slip off the loosened skins, as the FAO describes. Some cooks leave a little skin on for flavor.
4. Grind. Grind the damp nixtamal into fresh masa in a molino or a grinder made for wet corn, adding a splash of water as needed. A food processor works for small amounts but gives a coarser masa.
5. Use or dry. Fresh masa is ready for tortillas, tamales or champurrado. Masa harina is that same nixtamal dried and milled to a fine flour, which takes a grain mill and patience; most home cooks make fresh masa and buy masa harina for the pantry.

Our guide to nixtamalization explains the history and why lime-cooked corn behaves so differently from cornmeal, and a tortilla press takes the fresh masa from there.

Corn for masa: questions, answered

What kind of corn is used to make masa harina?

Mature, dried field corn, usually dent or flour corn, cooked and soaked with lime (nixtamalized), then dried and ground. Large brands such as Maseca use hybrid dent corn, according to America’s Test Kitchen, while smaller makers such as Masienda use heirloom corn from Mexican farmers. Our masa harina versus Maseca comparison covers the difference.

Can I make masa from popcorn or sweet corn?

Sweet corn, no: it is bred for sugar, not starch. Popcorn is a small, hard flint-type corn, according to NMSU, and while it can be nixtamalized, it is the hardest to work with and the least forgiving. Use dent or flour corn.

Is pickling lime the same as cal?

Yes. Both are calcium hydroxide, also called slaked lime. Buy a food-grade product such as Mrs. Wages, which states it is food-grade calcium hydroxide, and never use builders’ lime or quicklime.

How much cal do I need?

Masienda suggests starting at 1 percent of the corn’s weight, so 10 grams of cal per kilogram of dried corn. Some cooks use a little less for colored corn to help keep its color. Weigh it rather than measuring by the spoon, so each batch comes out the same.

Can I use canned hominy or maíz pozolero?

Canned hominy is already nixtamalized corn, cooked for soups such as pozole, and dried hominy sold as maíz pozolero or maíz trillado has been processed too. They are made for soup, not masa. For masa, start from raw whole dried corn.

Is homemade masa the same as masa harina?

Not quite. Homemade masa is fresh, moist dough that keeps only a few days in the refrigerator. Masa harina is the same nixtamalized corn, dried and milled so it keeps in the pantry and comes back to dough with water.

Our final pick for homemade masa

Buy Henry Moore’s heirloom yellow dent corn if you plan to make masa regularly, or Country Life’s 5-pound bag for a first try. Pick Food to Live’s blue kernels for blue tortillas, and add a bag of Mrs. Wages pickling lime either way. Measure the cal, take the overnight rest seriously, and wash the corn well.

If you would rather start with flour, see our guides to the best masa harina for champurrado and the best masa harina for tamales.

And if you would rather someone else did the cooking tonight, see the menu or call to order.