A process for the production of fresh masa, nixtamalized flour and derived
products. The invention is a new process for production of corn masa
(dough) to be used in the production of tortillas, fried or baked
tortilla chips, tostadas, or corn chips. The new process produces masa
directly from raw materials without the traditional cooking and steeping
steps. It utilizes a series of processing steps including milling,
blending, hydration, cooking and continuous cooling using cooling rollers
to stop gelatinization. The new process uses very little water and emits
no waste water.