In Guatemala and Honduras, one still finds only the traditional Mayan corn tortillas.
Corn tortillas are part of the cultural tradition of American SW Native American tribes, also.
Pedro de Castañeda was the writer who documented Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s expedition from 1540 to 1542 in the Pueblo region in search of present-day New Mexico.
Castañeda wrote that Coronado found the natives’corn tortillas delicious, and he noted that Indians ate them daily.
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Two components of the rigid dry corn kernel cell walls, pectin and hemicellulose, dissolve during the process of nixtamalization. This makes the hard hull of the kernel soften and separate from the grain; it then is easy to rub off and rinsed away when the corn is drained.
The gummy molecules of pectin, in the interior of the kernel, make it possible to form the corn into a dough after it’s ground.
Mayans as early as 1,500 BCE used this technique to make this staple food of daily life.
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This reminded me of my childhood summers 30 years ago spent on my grandparents rancho in Guanajuato. My abuelito planted and sowed the corn. My abuelita would simmer and grind the corn for nixtamal and make nearly 200 tortillas daily by hand on the wood fired comal for all of us. Nowadays our 70 hectare rancho has been transformed into high end homes we still have a small parcel of 15 hectares where we try to keep the semblance of the old days growing corn, raising cattle, chickens, pigs and sheep. Now we definitely buy from the tortillero seems it’s more time efficient.
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People are free to buy the artisan product. I go to the local tortilleria, buy the fresh masa and make them "hecho a mano." But note that it's the yuppies who will buy the more expensive product, while the working class, aka "the people", will buy the cheaper but still nutritious substitute. Of course, I wouldn't expect the NYT to say "Free trade and economy of scale makes staples cheaper for the working class."
Fruits of NAFTA. Time to rethink trade-- what would fair trade look like, as opposed to free trade. What would support small family farms and traditntal agriculture? That's the most sustainable and just path forward-- not corporate GMO farms.
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White Lily works better.
The best tortillas I ever had were those I ate in the home of Tarahumara family atop the Barranca del Cobre!
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There is absolutely nothing like a freshly cooked tortillia made from Mexican hand ground corn. Even in Mexico it is rare to find them outside homes where they are still being made. Blue corn tortillias are even better!
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@Bob
Go to Guatemala and you will find them in every home, restaurant and hotel or B&B.
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This is the fruit of NAFTA. It destroyed Mexican small farmers and American factory workers. Desperate Mexicans fled North and took low wage jobs in the illegal economy. Wages for Americans dropped. Resentment grew. Trump was elected. The New York Times supported NAFTA. Will we ever hear you say "We were wrong"? I doubt it.
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GMO corn is "a fist in the eye of God" as Kingsolver so lovely put it.
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The cynic in me would say tortilla purists are attempting to artisanal-ize a niche within the tortilla market. The demand certainly exists and people will pay good money for nice tortillas. We pay good money for nice bread or fancy cheese too. However, we have some basic economic principles that undermine this effort.
The supply for artisan tortillas now outstrips the demand. At the very least, traditional tortilla makers have outstripped the effectiveness of their distribution. Some people are always going to buy the cheaper substitute even when they prefer the home grown variety. If the substitute exists, there is less demand. You can't eliminate the substitute. You can only reach a bigger market.
The only other alternative, as we see here, is to try to differentiate your product within the market. We see appeals to value, craft, culture and heritage. All valid points. However, you still aren't going to walk back the change in Oaxacan preferences without some serious market intervention. Unlikely.
In which case, like the artisan pizzaiolos, the vendors will eventually shrink to specialty makers and those willing to learn the trade for themselves. Everyone else is still buying dominoes. The out-of-work tortilla makers meanwhile could probably make a decent living selling their craft to artisan chefs from outside Mexico.
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Although she has an uphill battle, it's nice to know that there are still people like Ms. González making food the traditional way. I understand the logistics of needing to feed millions of people, but there seems to be no balance between healthy food, and industrially processed food.
The family farm in this country is hanging on by the proverbial thread. We're forced, by ubiquity, to eat GMO and pesticides in crops, and livestock fed God knows what.
The right kind of food is medicine. The wrong kind is a lifetime of chronic disease, and an early death.
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I consider myself an accomplished home cook but my attempts at making homemade tortillas have always resulted in failure. I appreciate and admire the work that goes into a tortilla henco a mano.
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Having spent some time on in Oaxaca ten years ago I made aquaintance with several local (though non-indigenous) long term residents. At the time, they frequently lamented the fact that sons and nephews had left Oaxaca for the U.S. to find work. These emigrants had worked family farms which produced corn.
The reason? They blamed NAFTA which gave U.S. industrial agriculture access to the Mexican market. The subsequent flood of corn exports swamped local agriculture.
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The know-how exists, passing it along so it doesn’t disappear is the problem. Yes. As with a NYTimes article of a few weeks ago, we here in the U.S. are losing our ability to make flannel. In helping traditional arts, crafts, methods, ingredients, there’s nothing wrong with America First, or in this case, Mexico First.
That we, and Mexico, have turned that into a foreign policy slogan in areas of military, regional responsibility, ethical global leadership- as usual, it’s the farmers, the small businesses that get used for propaganda, then tossed aside.
A good mention of heirloom corn varieties - we’ve already lost that, except in local farmer’s markets. Good Luck Mexico.
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Vermont has a small authentic organic corn tortilla company, Vermont Tortilla Company in Shelburne. Their product is very good. Visit their website.
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In my reading only the weasel words "In the alliance’s view" are "according to tortilla purists." stand out in these otherwise bold assertions :
"In the alliance’s view, ...This unlocks nutrients, and makes the tortilla a valuable source of vitamins, minerals and protein."
.
"Industrially produced corn flour is also nixtamalized, but further processing strips it of nutrients, resulting in an inferior tortilla, according to tortilla purists."
Are any of these statements backed up by facts?
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I spent a few weeks in a small Guatemalan village on the shores of lake Atitlan. The village occupied a mountainside all the way down to the water. Each night the women cooked corn and set it to soak overnight in a plastic bowl. In the morning they would put the bowl on their heads and climb to the man with the grinder. I believe it cost less than a quetzal for him to grind it and return the masa in a bowl. I vividly recall the afternoon sound of soft hand pats all the way up the mountain, as hundreds of women patted out delicious tortillas which were cooked over open fire on a comal. I could never pat mine correctly-they didn’t puff up like those of the pros.
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Read a little U.S. history and find out about what happened to Mexican corn and the peasants who raised it
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My mother was born in Illinois but raised in San Antonio Texas, in the early 1900s. . She was very knowledgeable about “Mexican food.” Among her stronger opinions was the belief that only corn tortillas were authentic; ones made with flour were to be avoided as a poor substitute. So she would be happy to know people are trying to ensure corn tortillas are always available and honored as “the real thing!”
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@Kathy That is not true. In Northern Mexico flour tortillas are 'authentic' to the area, that is why we have flour tortillas in San Antonio.
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Originally, all tortillas were made of corn for hundreds/thousands of years. Corn is native to the Western Hemisphere, wheat flour only arrived with Europeans. Yes, there were wheat flour tortillas in northern Mexico that then spread up north. I heard it explained that wheat flour tortillas were a sign of more affluence, whereas corn tortillas were viewed as “peasant” food. I grew up in San Antonio in the 50s and the places we ate only used corn tortillas. And the great, original, little Teka Molina on St. Mary’s made their own corn tortillas.
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@Kathy
The Mayan cultures originally only ate maze/corn tortillas, and had many more varieties of the ancient maze.
With Westernization, flour tortillas became common from Belize north through much of Mexico. But south of Belize, Mayans continue to eat the more flavorful and traditional corn tortillas.
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Folks: this article is about the tortilla in Mexico, not what we get at home. The struggle to keep the tradition alive is social, economic and personal.
It isn't about US here in the U.S. My suggestion is to keep our eyes on the prize, and come up with suggestions from creative and inventive A merican minds that can hep Mexicans tweak the procerss successfully, and then bring it back home.
That sounds like the best chance for success., and besides, it isn't always about us personally. It's about helping others.
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Sounds like any other marketing board.
I wish them well.
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For perspective, 24 cents per pound for corn, which is described as the fair price for a farmer to receive, is more than 4 times higher than what an American farmer receives for a corn crop.
A country struggling with poverty cannot afford to promote artisenal foods that might appeal to American foodies. If nutritional food can be produced and distributed more economically, isn't that a good thing for society as a whole?
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...but this is about Mexican heirloom corn - not mass produced American garbage gmo corn.
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@woodyrd Your comment is mostly correct, yes, American corn farmers receive less than 24 cents per pound (current price is $3.77 per bushel and there are 56 lbs of shelled corn in a bushel). However your analysis is comparing like comparing apples and oranges. The majority (80%) of dent corn produced by American farmers goes to use of livestock feed or to make ethanol, and the remaining 20% usually goes to huge CPG companies to create foodstuffs like corn oil, or high fructose corn syrup. This corn is not necessarily selected for taster nutritional profile but instead for yield, pest resistance and drought tolerance. This corn is produced on an industrial scale on hundreds and thousands of acres at a time, with huge gps-guided tractors, combines, trucks and bins. The corn utilized by the tortilla makers in this story is a different type of corn, grown on a smaller scale with (I am guessing more manual labor) and with a different more labor-intensive supply-chain, all of which would justify the higher price of 24 cents per pound. I am the sixth-generation of farmers in Minnesota. And my father farms corn, soybeans and beef cattle. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn-and-other-feedgrains/feedgrains-sector-at-a-glance/
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As Texans transplanted to Missouri, we relied on Mission corn tortillas for years (yes mass-produced, probably not from nixtamalized corn, BUT made it corn, salt, and lime only). Then they morphed their corn tortillas into ‘new, softer!’ Tortillas, with other ingredients in them. We now miraculously have a local tortillaria that sells fresh corn tortillas by the kilo. Not heirloom corn, and definitely made on one of those conveyor belt machines (which you can see in their shop) but delicious, and still warm when you buy them. A corn tortilla is a miraculous thing.
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More "modern" progress. A similar situation has developed in France with the excellent, classic bread and baguettes. Sad.
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Why is there now GUAR GUM in the regional brands sold in Northern California even in my natural foods coop? It was unnecessary for eons. I have to buy frozen sprouted corn tortillas in order to get basic masa, lime, salt tortillas.
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Amen! Que pasa? I hate those things. A proper corn tortilla is one of the worlds perfect pleasures and they’re getting hard to find even in the Mexican neighborhood I grew up in in San Francisco. If you’re in the Sacramento area, Nixtaco in Roseville imports heirloom corn and makes amazing tortillas. Good tacos too. Worth the side trip on the way to North Tahoe from the Bay Area.
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I've had a terrible time in the last few years finding corn tortillas in my Chicago suburb that don't fall apart when made into enchiladas. I suspect the problem is mass production. It didn't used to be so difficult.
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As an Anglo living in Albuquerque in the mid-50s, I craved the tortillas my mother would buy at the grocery ordinaire (Piggly Wiggly, etc). They had flavir and texture ive been missing in the stires tiday that tastes like cardboard and don't roll without shredding.
Even in Texas now, it's impossible to find commercially available tortillas i remember. Trader Joe’s is as clise as i can find and the 150 mile round trip us well worth the time and effort.
BTW, flour tortillas arent.
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coming for the Indian sub-continent, was always wondering the difference between our Roti Phulka Chapati and Tortilla
I know its made from flour and corn respectively but
in the broader sense and feel taste as well as nutrition and Gluten. Any thoughts would be great
Srinivas
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@anuradha shastry
Pupusas, not tortillas, are the Mayan flat bread product more similar to roti phulka. The flavor is different because pupusas are corn based and strongly carry that flavor.
But both are flat bread products that puff up.
You haven’t lived until you have eaten a homemade fresh tortilla.
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@Steven Yes! I love the fresh flour tortillas still warm from the stove. Delicious!
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Here in Texas not so hard to find nixtamalized corn tortillas. Sanitary Tortilla in San Antonio is in my regular rotation. I load up and freeze them. Search around your town, especially the Latino side. That is where the better corn tortillas always are. Also, if you see preservatives, keep looking.
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@MadMex alas here in Northern California the brands I relied on for decade, based in la raza neighborhoods(at least originally) all add guar gum now. I have to buy frozen sprouted corn tortillas to get unadulterated tortillas.
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The worst that can happen to artisanal, ethnic foods is to be discovered by "tops chefs". The price soars while availability of the ingredients gets harder and harder. What has happened to the tortilla, has already happened to hallacas, pasteles, tamales and even Cuban sandwiches.
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@Alfredo Villanueva
Maybe they can have celebrities in to judge them as well.
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In the mid -1970”s my husband and I worked in the central highlands of Mexico as agricultural technicians. We traveled to remote mountain valleys where often Spanish was not the spoken language. There was always a camp kitchen at the field and this was where I learned to love tortillas. The corn varieties varied from white to red to green to blue depending on the area and the tortillas reflected these colors in subtle tone changes. What was consistent was the rich corn flavor. The texture was different from what is common today. The totilllas were not thick but had substance. The were flexible and easily rolled without tearing. The flavor was so rich that it was a treat to eat them with a shaker of salt and a fresh Chile to nibble. These tortillas were made by a local woman hired as a camp cook. She ground the corn and made the mixture by hand. The tortillas were patted out by hand and cooked on a comas over an open fire. Even then we knew we were experiencing a rare and wonderful culinary experience. The rural town we lived in had a mechanized tortilla factory and already the import of USA corn was happening. The tortilla quality was changing even 40 years ago The saddest part was seeing the small farmers being put out of business by the cheap imported corn. Good to see that Mexico is finding its way back to its indigenous heritage.
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I hate to be that person, but I don't consider tortillas made on a press to be handmade. They cannot be compared to ones patted by hand. As much as I love a tortilla made from "heirloom" corn and cooked over a wood fire, the modern mass-produced tortilla can be delicious, it can feed more people, and trees don't have to be cut down or mutilated.
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When I was growing up in East Los Angeles there was a tortilliaria three blocks from my house. I would walk past on my way to or from school I could watch the ladies patting these delicious and yummy circular bits of heaven. I was amazed at how quickly they would move their hands and then with great flair plop them down on this industrial griddle and then deftly flip them minus gloves to protect their fingers.
Better yet were the, less than thin, but even yummier ones made by my own grandfather. I wish I had learned to make these, but sadly the recipes died with my grandparents.
Yeah. I grew up awesome.
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I lived in a small village in Mexico 44 years ago and tortillas were made on wonderful conveyor belt machines. And they were delicious. Fast forward to today and the same is true. It’s like saying cotton should be hand-picked. What’s key is the best indredients, made and served fresh. Spare our arthritis-prone humanity the primordial pretension of producing these by hand.
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@Mia No.
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I lived in Mexico City for 3+ years, and I can say that fresh tortillas made from heirloom corn are the real thing. You have not really tasted a taco, until you have had one of those. It would be a tragedy for taste if we lost them.
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"(all but one a woman)"
Is this correct in the context of the paragraph?
@LTF I'm not sure I understand your question, but yes, the information about the Palmeadoras is correct: all but one is a woman. Petra Cruz and most of the rest of the people mentioned or quoted in the article are friends of mine, including the man who is a member of the union.
https://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2016/10/corn-an-ancient-gift-from-mexico-to-feed-the-world.html
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OK, I'm hungry. Sourcing details for those so far removed from the wonderful places detailed here?
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@CO Gal A valid option if you live in a big enough city - and even Fort Wayne, Indiana is that - is to go to a Mexican shop or even restaurant and buy "real' nixtamal. However, that's available in Fort Wayne only over the holidays, per what one local shop told me.
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I grow my own flint corn and I would love it if you could provide a recipe for nixtamalization including sources for the cal and recommended pots for cooking.
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@Jane McPeters
Check a local Mexican grocer for cal; I know I’ve seen it by the spices and herbs at our local supermercado.
@Jane McPeters
There are plenty of instructions on the WWW. The standard cooking pot is enameled but stainless steel would work as well, maybe cast iron too. One recipe says 3 lbs or 2 quarts of dried corn, 4 quarts of water and 5 tablespoons slaked lime. Bring to boil, simmer for an hour, turn off fire, let stand a few hours or overnight. Wash off the gunk (squeeze corn with hands, drain) until water's clear. Grind in a corn mill (I use an Estrella). Add a little water and mix into masa. Place a ball between plastic sheeting (cut up a plastic bread bag) and squeeze flat using hands, roller, or tortilla press (I made my own of wood). Cook dry (no fat) on hot steel or cast iron.
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Right now, I’d settle for being able to buy regular, run-of-the-mill corn tortillas easily.
I’ve noticed that they’ve been pushed out of most grocery stores lately by the ubiquitous (and less healthy or tasty) flour tortillas and a new generation of wheat, spinach, spelt, 7-grain, etc, “tortillas”.
I’m all for people having options to wrap their foods, but these are not tortillas and I’m getting pretty tired of store managers pointing to the endless variety of imposters they carry when all I’m really looking for is the original. Help!
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@Max
Have you considered going directly to a tortilleria? There are many here in Chicago and they sell retail as well as their larger business of supplying stores/restaurants. I can't imagine that NYC wouldn't have even more than we do. Good luck!
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@ Max NYC & Karl (Chicago)
Ye big city dwellers, beware the big food industries that denature the purity of the country products, all in the name of profit, while the consumers remain silent.
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@Karl, there are few tortillerías in the USA that use nixtamalized native Mexican corns to make tortillas. I'm not sure there is a commercial tortillería in Chicago that does; most use harina de maíz to make their masa--not the same thing at all.
@max, the calcium hydroxide mentioned in the article should be easy to find where you are. Ask at a hardware store where you can buy builder's lime--it's the same product.
To make nixtamal:
1 kilo (2.2 lbs) dried dent corn
3 Tablespoons of builder's lime (cal)
3 liters (+/- 3 quarts) water
In the evening, dissolve the cal in the water in a large pot.
Clean the corn of any small sticks, leaves, or stones. Wash the corn with several waters, then rinse well.
Put the cleaned corn in the pot with the water and cal. Bring to a boil and then immediately lower the heat to a simmer; you do NOT want the corn to boil, as it will not cook properly unless simmered.
The water will turn yellow and the "skin" (pericarp) of the corn will begin to loosen. Simmer for approximately 45 min to one hour.
Set the pot aside and allow to rest over night.
In the morning, wash the now-nixtamalized corn in at least three waters. You want to remove all of the remains of the cal from the corn.
Now you grind the corn. If you have a metate and metlapil, use those. Otherwise, you have to have a home-use mill and unfortunately I don't have a recommendation for one that works for WET corn--masa is made wet. Good luck!
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If you are interested in growing some of the flavor rich heirloom grinding corn yourself, I recommend 2 different sources: Native Seed Search in Tucson AZ and Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, IA. Both nonprofits are dedicated to keeping these old varieties alive. A heads up, the 3 varieties I’ve grown were 9 feet tall. Once you have your corn, if you put the word out you can find someone to show you how to make your tortillas.
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In Portland, Oregon we are fortunate to have 3 Sisters Nixtamal, a company using heirloom corn strains and older techniques to make masa dough and tortillas.
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@Abby Farber, heartily suggest you support your treasure or it will be gone. Moved to rural New England from the big city and a local friend taught us that if we didn’t frequent local businesses, they’d fold, which some did. Good luck!
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In New York City, Hot Bread Kitchen sells heirloom quality tortillas... you can find them at the Union Square Farmers Market and other markets
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@Abby Farber I am in utter drooling jealousy over your wonderful luck and good fortune.
Love blue corn tortillas. Best ones I have had were in Pecos, New Mexico, about 30 years ago.
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having spent much time in mexico & guatemala there is nothing better then a home handmade corn tortilla.. also interesting to
note that with the introduction of processed foods such as white bread and the onslaught of fast food such as mcdonald's amongst others the rate of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other related diseases has sky rocketed.. eat from the earth not from a plastice bag or a can i'd to like to think is the message
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@ nyc rts new york city
Do you mean that home-made Mexican tortillas are a cure-all remedy? If yes, the cost of their consumption must be reimbursable by health insurance.
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would never say a cure all but it's a heck of a lot better then eating cheetos & doritos washed down by a coke.. the proof is here in the states too where there is an epidemic in type 2 diabetes which is normally seen in adults and is now commonly seen in children too..
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