As soon as a green ear of corn is harvested, the sugar in the kernels starts to turn to starch, that is why the younger and fresher the corn, the sweeter. Dried corn keeps well and can be turned into a variety of food products. Cornmeal, grits, hominy, and masa are all dried corn. There are also all the corn cereal products. Cornmeal is simply dried corn ground into a fine powder.
Grits are ground hominy.
Hominy is dried corn with the tough shell removed. Masa is flour made from hominy. In a heavy pot, bring to a slow simmer three quarts of cold water, three pounds of dried corn and three ounces of hydrated lime. Simmer the pot until the hull slips easily off a sample kernel. Then cool the pot and remove all the hulls.