I've watched 3-4 of these corn tortillas videos, and yours is the best! You keep it simple, stay on subject, and don't try to explain everything the first time through. You just give the basics. Thank-you. I'm off to make my tortillas now.
As someone who spent 15 years in restaurant kitchens, I wantedbto commend you ..your guidance on this process and letting the viewers know that this isntba recipe as much as a guideline, is perfect. Could you include the name and spelling of your grinder...if its not already on here, I didnt seenit at first glance. Thanks for a well done video. New subscriber 👍🏼
HI Jeremy, There are several different manufacturers of these type of grinder, this one is an Estrella brand from Mexico. There are also silver galvanized ones from Columbia that are usually branded "Corona". You also see no-name models for sale that are from China. I have this Estrella and a no-name Chinese model. They are pretty similar but the Estrella is better made by far.
One of the best vids on tortillies. I made my first the other day using store bought just to see if I could do it. I have my first ever field corn (dent) patch this season, aiming for scratch tortillies this fall. Excellent! Thanks! UPVOTE!
Thank you so much for teaching us how to make our own tortillas w popcorn.. I can't wait to try. I bet they taste way better witout the preservitives like store brought i kid you not one pack did not rot on my shelf for 4 months
Wow! Just an amazing effort to make the originals ones, congratulations. To make the tortillas to inflate, the comal has to be very hot, but the important part is in the first flip, you have to do it before it gets dry, when you see that starts changing a little bit the color then you flip it, then wait and see if the brown marks started to appear, when you see the brown mark you flip it again and you’ll see the tortilla starting inflate with vapor, that is the humidity that you left in the first flip. That way they won’t be dry and they will be better cooked. Hope this helps to somebody.
inflating is kind of hard to achieve for me. We have a propane stove and even the largest burner struggles to get a hot enough temp to reliabley do a good job. I want to try doing it outdoors over a fire to have more heat.
This is a favorite video of mine, I have watched it numerous times over the past year. I know the satisfaction you refer to when the tortilla inflates....the right combination of heat, moisture of the dough, and timing of flipping. Thanks again for this video. I watch it at 2x speed!!! Please do an update if you have perfected your technique further! Thanks!
Hi again Laura, I have wanted to do some more nixtamalized corn recipes and discussion, its kind of involved to get all the right footage together though. Sooner or later. I have tweaked the recipe we use a little, and I want to talk sometimes about using wood ash instead of lime, since there are some differences with how the ash behaves and the nutritional composition as well.
Yeah, the entire process is really interesting. I get it, most of us watch these videos and often forget the added amount of time that goes into production--editing it, setting up camera, setting up script...etc. I subscribe to a farming channel and the guy solicits donations from viewers, you should consider it too.
🙋🏻♀️ learned something new, Im going to try this method. I've always used the maseca brand to make homemade corn tortillas and your recipe seems fairly easy. I've always thought this method was primarily used in Hispanic cultures, nice to see that it's not and that's the beauty of cooking your tortillas look 👌
The x in Nixtamal is pronounced sh. So nish tamal. Excellent technique. I keep some of the soaking liquid to add back after the first grind. Lot of flavor in that water.
what's interesting is in Texas you can get cal in regular grocery stores as well as pickling lime. cal is cheaper though go figure. you demonstrated that quite well great job. also watching this brought to mind the inside of hot water cornbread is much like masa in flavor, it's firmer though. have no idea why I didn't make that connection before lol
haha, I know about your channel from the cordwood challenge and your very impressive chopping. Now, I have some sweet corn from last year that got to ripened and was looking for vids on how to make them all the way from scratch - this was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you very much - subbed!
Hey somatder, I have not ever tried using dried sweet corn kernels. If I had to guess I am going to say it probably won't turn out much like a normal tortilla masa dough. Sweet corn kernels have much less starch due to the "sweet" genes which is also why the kernels are all wrinkled when they are dry. They also usually have very very thin pericarps so the stage where you are waiting for the pericarp to slip should happen very quickly. I think definitely you will need to do a lot of experimenting with timing etc because sweet corn is so different from field corns normall used for nixtamalizing. Please let me know how it turns out.
Very good and interesting video. I think my Grandma had a tortilla press like that. Enjoyed learning on this video. If was to make them I would have to do a DIY grind! 👍
Thank you so much for all the info! I am Mexican, and was looking for a video on how to make maza for tamales and all the ladies would use was Maseca.😒 I just received my meat grinder and will be grinding the corn with it.
I've been wanting to try this from scratch but the field corn is the problem. I had no idea popcorn could be used. I would imagine a cheap brand would work. I have a food processor so I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm sure it will taste better than making it from instant masa. You know, like the difference between instant anything and the real thing. Excellent video :o)
Thanks. I'm curious to try nixtamalizing with lime water vs the dry hydrate, I have lime putty but its from the building supply so not food grade. I'm meaning to put together a lime kiln like yours to do some limestone too, and I want to try it for making homebrew pozzolan more efficiently.
The lime putty is pretty strong I think. Not sure about straight lime water, but it wouldn't surprise me if it worked. what are you going to burn for pozzolan, or did we already have that conversation?
I'm burning my hillside subsoil clay, to convert it to amorphous/pozzolan which appears to be working. I don't have a spectrometer, or an electron microscope to really tell, but when you heat the clay up past the point where you get a color change but before it sinters, that seems to give most clays at least moderate pozzolan properties. So you can mix it with lime to make sorta kinda Roman cement or mess around with reacting it with lye to make geopolymer. I'm trying to figure out a low-tech geopolymer system where you can take woodash lye and homebrew pozzolan/calcined clay and make a decent DIY geopolymer concrete binder. Its kind of dependent on the chemical composition of the clay, which is dificult to determine other than by trial and error. Its kind of a rabbit-hole really.
Thanks Frank. It is good information. I don't consider myself a tortilla expert by any means. My own experience just seems to show that the coarser the grind the more brittle the texture, so if you want to fold the tortilla around something without it cracking in half it seems worth making it fine. But there are no doubt nuances that I haven't figured out. I still struggle with getting really consistent results. I'd probably be further along if I was making these EVERY day.
Oxbow Farm Yup, that’s why the ancients who ate coarse masa tortillas wouldn’t use them for tacos. My grandma would top it with hot sauce, or break pieces off of it. Different masa, different purpose. Also, most Mexicans don’t make their own masa, unless they’re still living a farm life. I’m watching videos on this because I’ve been wanting to make tortillas and other things from scratch. Great vid!
Can you share your sifted wood ash method. I'm in a short season climate and have been adapting painted mountain out here. I've experimented with fermented masa to create the break down process that lime does but I don't think everyone is thrilled about slightly sour tortillas. I like the flavor but want to experiment with lime BUT I have an obsession with not having to buy products. I just want to turn my corn into something without needing outside inputs. Anyway thanks for any advice. I burn maple all winter so I have plenty of ash. I've tried to use it to make soap and strip hair from deer hide but I need to refine the filtering process to make a uniform concentrate that can be measure more easily.
Also I appreciate the TPS videos because I've been wanting to do this since I have plenty of berries to pick from my purple potato plants. I'm interested in it more to just prevent clonal disease. I have a couple varieties of garlic that I have grown out from bulbils since I've read about a lot of garlic crop termination because of diseases from too many years of cloning
I've been meaning to do a wood ash nixtamalization video. Nixtamalization videos are kind of a pain because you have to take a lot of footage, and if you screw up the footage you can't just go back with the corn that is already in the process, so you have to start over with new corn. Its a little tedious from a filming standpoint. The basic thing with ashes is they are much more variable than using lime. If you have limestone locally, and you want to do things DIY, I'd almost recommend making a little lime kiln and making your own quicklime. Skillcult has an awesome video series on doing this. ua-cam.com/video/e54ISzGasdo/v-deo.html The nice thing about lime for nixtamalizing is that lime is less soluble in water , so if you add too much, it just doesn't go into solution. So the alkalinity of the solution is impossible to get too strong. With wood ash lye, you can easily go overboard because there is sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide (mostly potassium hydroxide) and they are very soluble. You can overshoot and make really bitter chalky nixtamalized corn. I actually believe that ash nixtamalized corn is nutritionally superior, there are much more complex suites of minerals being added to the corn vs simply calcium, but it is a little more fussy to do, and you have to basically test your recipe every time you switch to a new batch of ashes. I like to sift a bit batch of ashes and then keep them in an airtight gallon jar, so I know the strength of the ashes and don't have to keep tweaking the recipe again until I've used them all up.
thanks for the reply. I know maple ash is pretty strong and I ruined a hide because of that. It went mushy fast so I wasn't able to grain it because it would tear unnaturally easy. Anyway good advice. I think I'll go with that. I saw a recipe with 2 cups corn a quart of water and 2 tbls of ash but that sounded like it had to be a guesstimate. I think I'll just store a gallon or so and figure it out after a few batches like you said. Good advice thanks
The easiest way is to use too little ashes, I'd start with say for a quart of corn, half gallon of water, which is my basic batch size, start with 1/4 cup sifted ashes. That will almost certainly be too weak even if you are burning oak or hickory or ironwood. The other thing you can do is make ash water (lye water), basically boil like three cups of ashes in a half gallon of water, and then strain it through a T-shirt or something to get just the lye solution. Then you can add a quantity of the lye solution to your pot of corn and plain water, and sneak up on the right concentration that way. That is actually fairly traditional, the Seneca and Mohawk do it that way. There are lots of ways to do it really. But its hard to undo if you make it too strong, at least in my experience.
I have what might just well pass as a couple of stupid questions, but can you pour the water from the first rinse into your compost, and could you possibly dehydrate the ground corn to store and use as Masa flour for multiple tortilla making sessions, and if not, can the Masa be frozen and used to make tortillas at later times? My family's small, and I don't think we could eat that many tortillas, and I'm afraid of them getting hard or going bad since I won't be using any preservatives (yay!!).
I know this is an old video, but I thought I'd ask here. I've made tortillas before using the dried masa and it worked very well, but like yours they are THICK. Much thicker than I would like for tacos. Have you figured out a way to get them super thin like the ones you buy? I've used a tortilla press too, but one of the ones you can get at a Mexican grocery. Is that something that can only be achieved through hand rolling? I have always been curious. Certainly, the tortillas still taste good, but I think they would be FAR superior if they were just thinner. Thanks in advance!
I have a cast iron tortilla press that I've used with store bought masa and you can get them much thinner and pretty close to store tortilla thickness. I'm going to try his recipe too and I think you can get more pressure with the cast iron versions.
I have not tried that personally, but it is definitely possible to do. I HAVE frozen uncooked tamales for cooking at a later date, which is pretty much the same principle. So yes.
I have grown peanuts once before, I'm trying them again this year. We are extremely marginal for them but I'm trying Tennesee Valencia and Schronce's Black from Southern Exposure. Last time I sucessfully got peanuts but they were severely attacked by rabbits and didn't yield well, they seem to be even more attractive to herbivore mammals than even soybeans, but they can be grown here in a good year.
Hi no I don't. It was actually made by a friend of mine, he doesn't currently make them for sale, although he DOES make cutting boards. This tortilla press is basically two of Bill's cutting boards hinged together and then the press handle. You might be able to get him to make you one as a special order. His business is called Plum Creek Designs and he's based in Brooktondale, NY.
Great video thanks. One thing you might want to look more into the paracarb. You don’t want to eat that. It demineralizes your body and to get the great nutrition from corn it needs to be removed. Thx for the cool demo!
The alkali treatment definitely removes the huge majority of pericarp, but I don't necessarily agree with you that it is dangerous or unhealthful to eat. Everything I've read about the composition of pericarp is that it is primarily composed of hemi-cellulose, which is basically benign dietary fiber. I cant see how it could demineralize the body? Can you point me to some sources for the demineralization thing?
Oxbow Farm I can understand you. It’s not how we see corn these days. I am just learning about this and am still wrapping my mind around it. There is a very good blog about it called Corn, Nixtamal and Your Health. You can google it and the blog will come up. Best wishes
Nixtamalization is a process used in food industry for enrichment of the corn products. It adds vitamins and minerals. Also, you will have nutrition issues IF YOU EAT ONLY CORN... But I don't think it's going to happen!
Hi David, This video is about nixtamalizing corn and making tortillas in a fairly traditional method. The corn is wet ground in a masa grinder. Did you watch the video? Corn meal is dry ground so your wheat grinder will work. I grind our cornmeal in a hand grinder when I make cornmeal. IMO most of the hand grinders have plates that are optimized for wheat and do not feed most corn very efficiently, so the grinding rate for corn is usually much slower than for the same volume of wheat.
@@oxbowfarm5803 I'm a full time RV'er and so my gas stove has small'ish burners. I'm trying to decide if it would be worth it to buy an electric griddle instead of a cast iron comal. Thanks.
Maseca is just a brand. Masa=Dough, Harina=Flour... masa harina is like saying dough flour, it makes no sense. Corn masa, corn flour, wheat masa, wheat flour. I suppose if a product says masa harina, it's so that someone knows it's flour to make masa. Note that corn flour is not, and will not, make the same tortillas as a nixtamal dough will.
Hi - can you please give some instructions on how to use ash? I've been doing one cup ash, one cup corn and 1 litre water (i think this is 1/4 gallon for you) and cooking for 15 min then leaving to soak overnight and after rinsing it is inedible - really really alkali - like eating pure baking soda ... is wood ash a stronger lye than cal? all the instructions i've found for ash say boil for1 - 4 hours then soak 24 hours!!! WTF? any suggestions? I'm using hopi blue corn btw. cheers
Hi, I tried the same you described and it tastes like baking soda... I saw some people using ashes and the process is a bit different: Use 02 measures of ash for 01 measure of corn. Cook for 60 to 90 minutes, until you can easily "peal" the kernel... Everything will be dissolved already. (Some people keep looking at the color, it will become dark yellow/orange then it will regret to a soft yellow again, it's done) While still hot, rinse everything so many times as needed, until the water from rinse is crystal clear. This will prevent the ashes to penetrate the kernels and tastes like backing soda (thumbs up)... Now you need to hydrate the kernels. Put all the clean kernels into clear water and let rest for at least 08 hours. Drain all the water and you are ready to grind to "masa"... I found these information looking for "nixtamal con cenizas" (nistamal with ashes). TIPS: 1) Ashes need to be from wood, not from coal used for BBQ. Use your fireplace or so to burn some dry wood. 2) avoid wood containing high resin, as pine etc. It will.taste bad. 3) due to the chemical reaction inside the pan, avoid aluminium made ones. Try to use inox or glass! 4) look for as many instructional videos as you can and take your conclusions. I saw so many different ways of making nixtamal using ashes. All the info I provided above was taken from people making tortillas as the ancients did.
Dear Steve i tried your method ,but the corn we have is bad quality and 3rd grade , i put the lime and even added half a teaspoon more and put it to the boil for 30 minutes and when im grinding it , no way i got the texture you have which is DOUGH LIKE. Mine came out with lumps .What can i do with this type of corn that there is no other substitute.
Hi Robert, do you mean how to modify this recipe to use wood ashes? Its a little tricky to give really specific directions with wood ash, because different types of wood and different temperatures of fire will produce different ash composition. I'd start with a quantity of ash about double in quantity I recommend for the lime in this recipe and see if that will cause the corn to slip. If it doesn't I'd increase the quantity of ash till it does. The difference with wood ash vs lime is that much of the alkali in wood ash is potassium hydroxide and you can more easily make a solution that is too alkaline if you add too much ash, lime is more forgiving as calcium hydroxide is less soluble so if you add too much the excess doesn't go into solution. Hope that helps.
Wow ! Did you ever think of pouring the corn into a strainer each time you rinse the corn. The drain in the house needs to be protected from the things you are pouring down the drain. Maybe your a plumber also. Ha Ha!
I usually pour the first rinse or two outside, but after that it is easier to use the sink. I've nixtamalized corn hundreds of times in this house at this point, so I think my pipes are safe.
Yall PLEASE don't kill me. I happened upon this video in search of a way to make a healthier version of the store night tortilla hard shell. I've haven't watched the video completely. Can it be done using a blender.
I don't use lard or any type of oil to make tortillas. I do use lard added to the masa when you are making tamales. But a tortilla is dry roasted on the pan. Traditionally I they use a earthenware platter called a comal with a wood fire under it, but most people use metal comal now. I don't have a true comal but I just use the griddles I have.
What understood is that it depends on the freshness of the flour whether you have to add oil or not. That's why I want to know how to make my own Tortilla because the flour isn't so fresh like any other flour in the store.
Popcorn? really? Doesn't popcorn have a hermetically isolating outer shell, or doesn't a hermetic shell prevent the calcium from entering the corn and inhibit the process that many other substances are washed out of the corn? I'd guess that popcorn alongside sweetcorn are the two kinds of maize you cannot make masa out of.
The "shell" you are talking about is the pericarp, and its not any different in composition from the corn I'm using in the video, its been bred to be a bit thicker, but the strong alkaline solution will dissolve it in the same way. I've used popcorn, it maybe takes a few more minutes of boiling due to the thicker pericarp. I don't think you could use sweetcorn to make masa, but I've never had any dry sweetcorn kernels to try it with, so I don't have experience with that, just guessing.
It might vary based on the tolerances of your masa grinder, but I can't get a fine grind with one grind with either of the two grinders I own. If it works for you that is great. I've made a lot of tortillas with this system, and I'm still playing around with the variables, but I've not been able to get away with one grind and get good flexible textures.
Your made is too dry. Tip....if you flatten a ball of mass in your hand and it cracks around the edges then the made needs more water. Properly made tortillas will puff up like a balloon when cooking.
I've watched 3-4 of these corn tortillas videos, and yours is the best! You keep it simple, stay on subject, and don't try to explain everything the first time through. You just give the basics. Thank-you. I'm off to make my tortillas now.
I agree, more details of range of processing differences of different corn types.
Thumbs up to you friend; there is nothing like the smell and taste of fresh corn tortillas made from nixtamal.
Amen.
Nice work with the nixtamilization. Good to see.
As someone who spent 15 years in restaurant kitchens, I wantedbto commend you ..your guidance on this process and letting the viewers know that this isntba recipe as much as a guideline, is perfect. Could you include the name and spelling of your grinder...if its not already on here, I didnt seenit at first glance. Thanks for a well done video. New subscriber 👍🏼
HI Jeremy, There are several different manufacturers of these type of grinder, this one is an Estrella brand from Mexico. There are also silver galvanized ones from Columbia that are usually branded "Corona". You also see no-name models for sale that are from China. I have this Estrella and a no-name Chinese model. They are pretty similar but the Estrella is better made by far.
Thanks for the question and the reply!
One of the best vids on tortillies. I made my first the other day using store bought just to see if I could do it. I have my first ever field corn (dent) patch this season, aiming for scratch tortillies this fall. Excellent! Thanks! UPVOTE!
From farm to table, nice!
Thank you so much for teaching us how to make our own tortillas w popcorn.. I can't wait to try. I bet they taste way better witout the preservitives like store brought i kid you not one pack did not rot on my shelf for 4 months
Wow! Just an amazing effort to make the originals ones, congratulations.
To make the tortillas to inflate, the comal has to be very hot, but the important part is in the first flip, you have to do it before it gets dry, when you see that starts changing a little bit the color then you flip it, then wait and see if the brown marks started to appear, when you see the brown mark you flip it again and you’ll see the tortilla starting inflate with vapor, that is the humidity that you left in the first flip.
That way they won’t be dry and they will be better cooked. Hope this helps to somebody.
inflating is kind of hard to achieve for me. We have a propane stove and even the largest burner struggles to get a hot enough temp to reliabley do a good job. I want to try doing it outdoors over a fire to have more heat.
Oxbow Farm yes, that would help. And the first flip before gets dry. Good luck.
Looks fantastic! You did a Phenomenal Job!
Those look DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for this video.
This is a favorite video of mine, I have watched it numerous times over the past year. I know the satisfaction you refer to when the tortilla inflates....the right combination of heat, moisture of the dough, and timing of flipping. Thanks again for this video. I watch it at 2x speed!!! Please do an update if you have perfected your technique further! Thanks!
Hi again Laura, I have wanted to do some more nixtamalized corn recipes and discussion, its kind of involved to get all the right footage together though. Sooner or later. I have tweaked the recipe we use a little, and I want to talk sometimes about using wood ash instead of lime, since there are some differences with how the ash behaves and the nutritional composition as well.
Yeah, the entire process is really interesting. I get it, most of us watch these videos and often forget the added amount of time that goes into production--editing it, setting up camera, setting up script...etc. I subscribe to a farming channel and the guy solicits donations from viewers, you should consider it too.
🙋🏻♀️ learned something new, Im going to try this method. I've always used the maseca brand to make homemade corn tortillas and your recipe seems fairly easy. I've always thought this method was primarily used in Hispanic cultures, nice to see that it's not and that's the beauty of cooking your tortillas look 👌
The x in Nixtamal is pronounced sh. So nish tamal. Excellent technique. I keep some of the soaking liquid to add back after the first grind. Lot of flavor in that water.
this is a good demo! ty
Great video thanks
Looks fantastic! One of my favorite foods. You're really moving along, you had a camera-person this time.
Yes, my camera person is not on contract for outdoor winter cinematography very often.
I wonder what olive oil would do to the dough? Looks delicious thanks for the upload
Thanks for sharing.
Skillcult mentioned this video. Subscribed.
Good video, thank you. That grinder does a nice job. Did you ever make the grinder review video you mention, comparing the two that you have?
what's interesting is in Texas you can get cal in regular grocery stores as well as pickling lime. cal is cheaper though go figure. you demonstrated that quite well great job. also watching this brought to mind the inside of hot water cornbread is much like masa in flavor, it's firmer though. have no idea why I didn't make that connection before lol
I'm really interested in the hot water cornbread, we are going to try that soon, but I've got to grind some cornmeal.
haha, I know about your channel from the cordwood challenge and your very impressive chopping. Now, I have some sweet corn from last year that got to ripened and was looking for vids on how to make them all the way from scratch - this was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you very much - subbed!
Hey somatder, I have not ever tried using dried sweet corn kernels. If I had to guess I am going to say it probably won't turn out much like a normal tortilla masa dough. Sweet corn kernels have much less starch due to the "sweet" genes which is also why the kernels are all wrinkled when they are dry. They also usually have very very thin pericarps so the stage where you are waiting for the pericarp to slip should happen very quickly. I think definitely you will need to do a lot of experimenting with timing etc because sweet corn is so different from field corns normall used for nixtamalizing. Please let me know how it turns out.
Very good and interesting video. I think my Grandma had a tortilla press like that. Enjoyed learning on this video. If was to make them I would have to do a DIY grind! 👍
Thanks for the great video and explanations.
Thank you so much for all the info! I am Mexican, and was looking for a video on how to make maza for tamales and all the ladies would use was Maseca.😒 I just received my meat grinder and will be grinding the corn with it.
Don’t use an aluminum pot. The alkalinity of the lime will eat away the aluminum and it will get in your food.
Nice video.
Awesome thank you
Excellent I wanna try.firstime ever
I've been wanting to try this from scratch but the field corn is the problem. I had no idea popcorn could be used. I would imagine a cheap brand would work. I have a food processor so I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm sure it will taste better than making it from instant masa. You know, like the difference between instant anything and the real thing. Excellent video :o)
Excellent video. Damn, I know what I'm eating for dinner. I'll try to remember to send you some shell lime putty.
Thanks. I'm curious to try nixtamalizing with lime water vs the dry hydrate, I have lime putty but its from the building supply so not food grade. I'm meaning to put together a lime kiln like yours to do some limestone too, and I want to try it for making homebrew pozzolan more efficiently.
The lime putty is pretty strong I think. Not sure about straight lime
water, but it wouldn't surprise me if it worked. what are you going to
burn for pozzolan, or did we already have that conversation?
I'm burning my hillside subsoil clay, to convert it to amorphous/pozzolan which appears to be working. I don't have a spectrometer, or an electron microscope to really tell, but when you heat the clay up past the point where you get a color change but before it sinters, that seems to give most clays at least moderate pozzolan properties. So you can mix it with lime to make sorta kinda Roman cement or mess around with reacting it with lye to make geopolymer. I'm trying to figure out a low-tech geopolymer system where you can take woodash lye and homebrew pozzolan/calcined clay and make a decent DIY geopolymer concrete binder. Its kind of dependent on the chemical composition of the clay, which is dificult to determine other than by trial and error. Its kind of a rabbit-hole really.
When older generations used to make thick hand tortillas they usually liked their masa coarse. My grandma did. 😉
Thanks Frank. It is good information. I don't consider myself a tortilla expert by any means. My own experience just seems to show that the coarser the grind the more brittle the texture, so if you want to fold the tortilla around something without it cracking in half it seems worth making it fine. But there are no doubt nuances that I haven't figured out. I still struggle with getting really consistent results. I'd probably be further along if I was making these EVERY day.
Oxbow Farm Yup, that’s why the ancients who ate coarse masa tortillas wouldn’t use them for tacos. My grandma would top it with hot sauce, or break pieces off of it. Different masa, different purpose. Also, most Mexicans don’t make their own masa, unless they’re still living a farm life. I’m watching videos on this because I’ve been wanting to make tortillas and other things from scratch. Great vid!
Awesome video thank you
Can you share your sifted wood ash method. I'm in a short season climate and have been adapting painted mountain out here. I've experimented with fermented masa to create the break down process that lime does but I don't think everyone is thrilled about slightly sour tortillas. I like the flavor but want to experiment with lime BUT I have an obsession with not having to buy products. I just want to turn my corn into something without needing outside inputs. Anyway thanks for any advice. I burn maple all winter so I have plenty of ash. I've tried to use it to make soap and strip hair from deer hide but I need to refine the filtering process to make a uniform concentrate that can be measure more easily.
Also I appreciate the TPS videos because I've been wanting to do this since I have plenty of berries to pick from my purple potato plants. I'm interested in it more to just prevent clonal disease. I have a couple varieties of garlic that I have grown out from bulbils since I've read about a lot of garlic crop termination because of diseases from too many years of cloning
I've been meaning to do a wood ash nixtamalization video. Nixtamalization videos are kind of a pain because you have to take a lot of footage, and if you screw up the footage you can't just go back with the corn that is already in the process, so you have to start over with new corn. Its a little tedious from a filming standpoint. The basic thing with ashes is they are much more variable than using lime. If you have limestone locally, and you want to do things DIY, I'd almost recommend making a little lime kiln and making your own quicklime. Skillcult has an awesome video series on doing this. ua-cam.com/video/e54ISzGasdo/v-deo.html
The nice thing about lime for nixtamalizing is that lime is less soluble in water , so if you add too much, it just doesn't go into solution. So the alkalinity of the solution is impossible to get too strong. With wood ash lye, you can easily go overboard because there is sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide (mostly potassium hydroxide) and they are very soluble. You can overshoot and make really bitter chalky nixtamalized corn. I actually believe that ash nixtamalized corn is nutritionally superior, there are much more complex suites of minerals being added to the corn vs simply calcium, but it is a little more fussy to do, and you have to basically test your recipe every time you switch to a new batch of ashes. I like to sift a bit batch of ashes and then keep them in an airtight gallon jar, so I know the strength of the ashes and don't have to keep tweaking the recipe again until I've used them all up.
thanks for the reply. I know maple ash is pretty strong and I ruined a hide because of that. It went mushy fast so I wasn't able to grain it because it would tear unnaturally easy. Anyway good advice. I think I'll go with that. I saw a recipe with 2 cups corn a quart of water and 2 tbls of ash but that sounded like it had to be a guesstimate. I think I'll just store a gallon or so and figure it out after a few batches like you said. Good advice thanks
The easiest way is to use too little ashes, I'd start with say for a quart of corn, half gallon of water, which is my basic batch size, start with 1/4 cup sifted ashes. That will almost certainly be too weak even if you are burning oak or hickory or ironwood. The other thing you can do is make ash water (lye water), basically boil like three cups of ashes in a half gallon of water, and then strain it through a T-shirt or something to get just the lye solution. Then you can add a quantity of the lye solution to your pot of corn and plain water, and sneak up on the right concentration that way. That is actually fairly traditional, the Seneca and Mohawk do it that way. There are lots of ways to do it really. But its hard to undo if you make it too strong, at least in my experience.
I have what might just well pass as a couple of stupid questions, but can you pour the water from the first rinse into your compost, and could you possibly dehydrate the ground corn to store and use as Masa flour for multiple tortilla making sessions, and if not, can the Masa be frozen and used to make tortillas at later times? My family's small, and I don't think we could eat that many tortillas, and I'm afraid of them getting hard or going bad since I won't be using any preservatives (yay!!).
In a Deep South Homestead video they made hominy and then dehydrated it.
Sorry to be late to the party But thanks anyway great video very informative! Thanks again.
I know this is an old video, but I thought I'd ask here. I've made tortillas before using the dried masa and it worked very well, but like yours they are THICK. Much thicker than I would like for tacos. Have you figured out a way to get them super thin like the ones you buy? I've used a tortilla press too, but one of the ones you can get at a Mexican grocery. Is that something that can only be achieved through hand rolling? I have always been curious. Certainly, the tortillas still taste good, but I think they would be FAR superior if they were just thinner.
Thanks in advance!
I have a cast iron tortilla press that I've used with store bought masa and you can get them much thinner and pretty close to store tortilla thickness. I'm going to try his recipe too and I think you can get more pressure with the cast iron versions.
New friend. Very informative.
Great video thanks!
After the second grind, do you think the ball could be frozen for future use?
I have not tried that personally, but it is definitely possible to do. I HAVE frozen uncooked tamales for cooking at a later date, which is pretty much the same principle. So yes.
Could i do the tortillas or tamales with popcorn ?
Do you live in a climate that can grow peanuts? That grinder looks like it would do a bang up job at making peanut butter
I have grown peanuts once before, I'm trying them again this year. We are extremely marginal for them but I'm trying Tennesee Valencia and Schronce's Black from Southern Exposure. Last time I sucessfully got peanuts but they were severely attacked by rabbits and didn't yield well, they seem to be even more attractive to herbivore mammals than even soybeans, but they can be grown here in a good year.
When you put the calcium chloride in the corn overnight, is that at room temperature or under refrigeration?
Don't put that only calcium hydroxide
Great video. Love that tortilla press. Do you sell them?
Hi no I don't. It was actually made by a friend of mine, he doesn't currently make them for sale, although he DOES make cutting boards. This tortilla press is basically two of Bill's cutting boards hinged together and then the press handle. You might be able to get him to make you one as a special order. His business is called Plum Creek Designs and he's based in Brooktondale, NY.
Oxbow Farm thanks for your quick response. Your video and explanation was excellent.
Great video thanks. One thing you might want to look more into the paracarb. You don’t want to eat that. It demineralizes your body and to get the great nutrition from corn it needs to be removed. Thx for the cool demo!
The alkali treatment definitely removes the huge majority of pericarp, but I don't necessarily agree with you that it is dangerous or unhealthful to eat. Everything I've read about the composition of pericarp is that it is primarily composed of hemi-cellulose, which is basically benign dietary fiber. I cant see how it could demineralize the body? Can you point me to some sources for the demineralization thing?
Oxbow Farm I can understand you. It’s not how we see corn these days. I am just learning about this and am still wrapping my mind around it. There is a very good blog about it called Corn, Nixtamal and Your Health. You can google it and the blog will come up. Best wishes
Nixtamalization is a process used in food industry for enrichment of the corn products. It adds vitamins and minerals.
Also, you will have nutrition issues IF YOU EAT ONLY CORN... But I don't think it's going to happen!
I just ordered some grain corn from Baker Creek. Is this the process for making corn meal ? I have a hand grinder for wheat will that work ?
Hi David, This video is about nixtamalizing corn and making tortillas in a fairly traditional method. The corn is wet ground in a masa grinder. Did you watch the video? Corn meal is dry ground so your wheat grinder will work. I grind our cornmeal in a hand grinder when I make cornmeal. IMO most of the hand grinders have plates that are optimized for wheat and do not feed most corn very efficiently, so the grinding rate for corn is usually much slower than for the same volume of wheat.
ok great, thanks for the info.
Do you flip them 2 or 3 times? What is the difference between masa (Maseca) and masa harina?
Twice, but my propane burner is kind of anemic. If I had a hotter flame you can just flip them once I think.
@@oxbowfarm5803
I'm a full time RV'er and so my gas stove has small'ish burners. I'm trying to decide if it would be worth it to buy an electric griddle instead of a cast iron comal. Thanks.
Maseca is just a brand. Masa=Dough, Harina=Flour... masa harina is like saying dough flour, it makes no sense. Corn masa, corn flour, wheat masa, wheat flour. I suppose if a product says masa harina, it's so that someone knows it's flour to make masa. Note that corn flour is not, and will not, make the same tortillas as a nixtamal dough will.
Hi - can you please give some instructions on how to use ash? I've been doing one cup ash, one cup corn and 1 litre water (i think this is 1/4 gallon for you) and cooking for 15 min then leaving to soak overnight and after rinsing it is inedible - really really alkali - like eating pure baking soda ... is wood ash a stronger lye than cal? all the instructions i've found for ash say boil for1 - 4 hours then soak 24 hours!!! WTF? any suggestions? I'm using hopi blue corn btw. cheers
Hi, I tried the same you described and it tastes like baking soda...
I saw some people using ashes and the process is a bit different:
Use 02 measures of ash for 01 measure of corn. Cook for 60 to 90 minutes, until you can easily "peal" the kernel... Everything will be dissolved already. (Some people keep looking at the color, it will become dark yellow/orange then it will regret to a soft yellow again, it's done)
While still hot, rinse everything so many times as needed, until the water from rinse is crystal clear. This will prevent the ashes to penetrate the kernels and tastes like backing soda (thumbs up)...
Now you need to hydrate the kernels. Put all the clean kernels into clear water and let rest for at least 08 hours.
Drain all the water and you are ready to grind to "masa"...
I found these information looking for "nixtamal con cenizas" (nistamal with ashes).
TIPS:
1) Ashes need to be from wood, not from coal used for BBQ. Use your fireplace or so to burn some dry wood.
2) avoid wood containing high resin, as pine etc. It will.taste bad.
3) due to the chemical reaction inside the pan, avoid aluminium made ones. Try to use inox or glass!
4) look for as many instructional videos as you can and take your conclusions. I saw so many different ways of making nixtamal using ashes. All the info I provided above was taken from people making tortillas as the ancients did.
Cal has pH = 11
Ashes have pH = 09
Dear Steve i tried your method ,but the corn we have is bad quality and 3rd grade , i put the lime and even added half a teaspoon more and put it to the boil for 30 minutes and when im grinding it , no way i got the texture you have which is DOUGH LIKE. Mine came out with lumps .What can i do with this type of corn that there is no other substitute.
How must I make wood ashes?
Hi Robert, do you mean how to modify this recipe to use wood ashes? Its a little tricky to give really specific directions with wood ash, because different types of wood and different temperatures of fire will produce different ash composition. I'd start with a quantity of ash about double in quantity I recommend for the lime in this recipe and see if that will cause the corn to slip. If it doesn't I'd increase the quantity of ash till it does. The difference with wood ash vs lime is that much of the alkali in wood ash is potassium hydroxide and you can more easily make a solution that is too alkaline if you add too much ash, lime is more forgiving as calcium hydroxide is less soluble so if you add too much the excess doesn't go into solution. Hope that helps.
Wow ! Did you ever think of pouring the corn into a strainer each time you rinse the corn. The drain in the house needs to be protected from the things you are pouring down the drain. Maybe your a plumber also. Ha Ha!
I usually pour the first rinse or two outside, but after that it is easier to use the sink. I've nixtamalized corn hundreds of times in this house at this point, so I think my pipes are safe.
Yall PLEASE don't kill me. I happened upon this video in search of a way to make a healthier version of the store night tortilla hard shell. I've haven't watched the video completely. Can it be done using a blender.
OK , I did not see any CRISCO or LARD or Hola pin O"s..Did I miss something ? Thanks
I don't use lard or any type of oil to make tortillas. I do use lard added to the masa when you are making tamales. But a tortilla is dry roasted on the pan. Traditionally I they use a earthenware platter called a comal with a wood fire under it, but most people use metal comal now. I don't have a true comal but I just use the griddles I have.
OK ,I like them better with a little Crisco.Or butter,,
What understood is that it depends on the freshness of the flour whether you have to add oil or not. That's why I want to know how to make my own Tortilla because the flour isn't so fresh like any other flour in the store.
Great video. Hint next time press alittle thinner and they will puff up. Those are alittle to thick. Okey if you like them that way.
Hello beautiful forget the water add bacon Grease duck Grease or just lard
Popcorn? really? Doesn't popcorn have a hermetically isolating outer shell, or doesn't a hermetic shell prevent the calcium from entering the corn and inhibit the process that many other substances are washed out of the corn? I'd guess that popcorn alongside sweetcorn are the two kinds of maize you cannot make masa out of.
The "shell" you are talking about is the pericarp, and its not any different in composition from the corn I'm using in the video, its been bred to be a bit thicker, but the strong alkaline solution will dissolve it in the same way. I've used popcorn, it maybe takes a few more minutes of boiling due to the thicker pericarp. I don't think you could use sweetcorn to make masa, but I've never had any dry sweetcorn kernels to try it with, so I don't have experience with that, just guessing.
add a bit more water to that masa and make them a bit more skinny. y bas aver que te ban a salir ricisimos
*riquísimos
My Mexican wife said that you needed more water, and they were too thick.
No reason to do 2 grinds.....just tighten it up and do 1.
It might vary based on the tolerances of your masa grinder, but I can't get a fine grind with one grind with either of the two grinders I own. If it works for you that is great. I've made a lot of tortillas with this system, and I'm still playing around with the variables, but I've not been able to get away with one grind and get good flexible textures.
Your made is too dry. Tip....if you flatten a ball of mass in your hand and it cracks around the edges then the made needs more water. Properly made tortillas will puff up like a balloon when cooking.
Auto correct is a bitch!
@@bretwiley6675 Edit, rather than make an additional comment.
Great video, too much water, you take away the calcium. But I love your video.