Most corn products you buy from the store -- be it tortillas or tamales or masa harina like Maseca -- are made from corn that has undergone the process of nixtamalization. But to really unlock the deep flavor and aroma that corn can bring, check out these tortillas made from fresh milled masa.
I’m sure the heirloom corn varieties, combined with all the time, effort, and heavy mixing equipment that goes into making the artisanal masa shown here makes a completely different tortilla than what you get with maseca. No doubt it tastes amazing and delicious. But almost no one is going to have the time or resources to track down the heirloom corn, nixtamalize it, grind it somehow, and make fresh tortillas no matter how wonderful they taste. It’s just not really feasible for most people. I’m glad I learned more about the process and its history, but I’ll have to stick with maseca for my tortillas.
There is a whole country does it. There are molinos in every pretty much evey town and it is a common chore for everyone to cook the nixtamal the night before and take is to the molino the day after.
Without a bulky and very expensive nixtamal grinder, the home cook can't make sceatch-made masa quite fine enough for a proper table tortilla. A cheap manual grinder will produce a coarser masa, which will yield tortillas with a more pebbly texture -- but you can coax them to puff on the comal, and they will be delicious!
Most corn products you buy from the store -- be it tortillas or tamales or masa harina like Maseca -- are made from corn that has undergone the process of nixtamalization. But to really unlock the deep flavor and aroma that corn can bring, check out these tortillas made from fresh milled masa.
There is a smaller table top corn grinder model thats very affordable from Laymans hardware in Kidron Ohio
This is great. Where can I get the corn (Maiz) to make my own in the same variety ?
I’m sure the heirloom corn varieties, combined with all the time, effort, and heavy mixing equipment that goes into making the artisanal masa shown here makes a completely different tortilla than what you get with maseca. No doubt it tastes amazing and delicious. But almost no one is going to have the time or resources to track down the heirloom corn, nixtamalize it, grind it somehow, and make fresh tortillas no matter how wonderful they taste. It’s just not really feasible for most people. I’m glad I learned more about the process and its history, but I’ll have to stick with maseca for my tortillas.
Fair enough. We bet your maseca-made tortillas are delicious too.
There is a whole country does it. There are molinos in every pretty much evey town and it is a common chore for everyone to cook the nixtamal the night before and take is to the molino the day after.
Without a bulky and very expensive nixtamal grinder, the home cook can't make sceatch-made masa quite fine enough for a proper table tortilla. A cheap manual grinder will produce a coarser masa, which will yield tortillas with a more pebbly texture -- but you can coax them to puff on the comal, and they will be delicious!
Oh you gotta do the history of cinnamon rolls
Super interesting. And now I need to track down a handmade tortilla stat!
Respect hyphenating that compound modifier
We do what we can.
You’re beautiful!!
Thank you so much for this. So interesting. I LOVE the history. Now I need to find somewhere in SF that has these traditional Corn Tortillas.