If you’ve never encountered hominy before, you might be hard-pressed to identify it as corn just by its looks, but one taste of its full toasty corn flavor and you’d probably figure it out quickly. Hominy (also known as posole or pozole) is corn kernels that have been stripped of their hulls and germ. The stripping is done either mechanically or by soaking in a weak lye solution.

Hominy is yellow or white depending on the type of corn from which it’s made, and it’s available dried and canned. Dried hominy is sold whole, very coarsely ground to make samp, more finely ground to make grits (which can be finely, medium, or coarsely ground), or ground into a semifine meal to make masa, from which corn torrtillas are made.

Think of canned hominy as you would think of canned beans: Good for adding to soups, stews, salads, and some sauces like Tomato-Jalapeño Sauce with Hominy, Cilantro & Lime. Drain and rinse canned hominy before using.