Nixtamal

Hominy is a Mesoamerican food item produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization (nextamalli is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a type of hominy made with lye. The word "hominy" comes from the Powhatan -homen, literally, "that treated (in the way specified)."