"Rolly" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Here is what Gunner was refering to:
>
> Cal is known chemically as calcium hydroxide. Other common names are
> builders' lime and slaked lime. In addition to its uses in building,
> it is used in many industrial processes including the making of hominy
> and tortillas. It is made from calcium oxide which is also sometimes
> called lime, but more commonly quicklime. C. hydroxide is a fairly
> harmless while power (gloves are recommended, don't breath the dust),
> while C. oxide is a fairly dangerous crystalline rock-like material
> that must be handled with care (gloves are a must and eye
> protection). With due care and certain adjustment to the process,
> quicklime can be used in place of builders' lime, but it rarely is.
> The main exception is in the making of whitewash, blanqueo.
>
> Look here to see cal used in making tortillas:
http://rollybrook.com/tortillas.htm
>
> Herbal/Medicinal remedies -- interesting idea, but it sure sounds like
> an awful lot of work.

Thanks!

I wish I had pictures of me behind a pair of oxen plowing the field, then
the growing maize, and then letting it dry in the sun, then harvesting and
putting the cobs in the big storage room on the hacienda, then the graining
process... and of course some of the bare cobs used in the out-house the
peons used. (We had toilet paper!).

As to herbal/medical remedies, you might want to get a start, just for fun,
by ordering Heriberto Garcia Rivas's book "Plantas Curativas Mexicanas" from
Panorama --- a very comprehensive treaty on precolumbian herbs for good
health. It's in Spanish.

And yes... it's a challenge... but what else do you have going for you that
would keep you interested in projects?

Certainly not fixing leaking roofs!

Wayne

>