When I was young, my Grandma lived so close I could walk to her house, which I often did, partly because it was a quiet refuge from a hectic home full of brothers and sisters, but mostly because Grandma was a good cook. And, as it turns out, a good teacher. Much of what I know today I started learning standing next to Grandma in the kitchen.

While she taught me many things — how to make a mile-high meringue and the perfect cornbread — it was my palate that learned the most. Those homey flavors that came in fairly simple dishes are so deeply ingrained in my memory that I'd recognize and love them anywhere, even in dishes Grandma had never even heard of, much less made for her family.

One ingredient that often made an appearance in my Grandma's kitchen was hominy. She didn't do much to it — just opened a can and heated it up with a dab of butter — but I was always a fan of its earthy, toasty flavor and its chewy, starchy texture.

Hominy is basically dried field corn that's been soaked in a mineral lime bath. The soaking process removes the hulls and softens the kernels. From there, you can either eat the hominy as it is, with a little salt, pepper and butter, as Grandma did, or add it to soups, stews or other dishes.

Where you're most likely to have encountered hominy is in its ground form, in either corn tortillas or grits, two very different dishes that, at their hearts, are both simply different versions of ground hominy.

As an adult, I've taken hominy in variety of different directions. One of my favorite ways to use hominy is in posole, a Mexican stew usually made with pork or chicken and chile peppers and other seasonings. I first fell in love with this dish years ago in New Mexico, and have been making it for my family ever since.

Posole is often made "red" with a variety of dried chiles, toasted and puréed with some of the cooking liquid from the stew. My version is green with tomatillos, serranos and pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas) at its base.

If I'm making this for my family, I make it hot and add in 3 or 4 serranos, but a mild version with only one chile is just as good. The finished stew is topped with sweet onions, avocado, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

Although my Grandma might not recognize the hominy I serve my kids, I recognize her in every dish I serve it in.

Meredith Deeds of Edina is the author of "Everyday to Entertaining" and "The Big Book of Appetizers." Reach her at meredith@meredithdeeds.com. Follow her on Twitter @meredithdeeds.