Corn Tortillas - A Historical Overview

Throughout my research, one important aspect of traditional Mexican culture that has become quite evident to me is the importance of corn or maíz in the national diet. In ancient cultures, corn was highly revered and was an important part of religion and daily life. Before European settlers arrived in Latin America, the indigenous peoples in Mexico formed their entire diet around corn as their staple food. The Spanish introduced wheat later on and although many people tried to convince he general population that wheat was superior to corn, these pleas fell on deaf ears. One major reason being that corn thrived in Mexico while wheat struggled and as for a second reason, the people didn't want to sacrifice corn for wheat. Even despite rumors that wheat promoted a healthier diet which we know now that this is untrue.

To make corn tortillas the "old-school way"; a woman would remove the kernels of corn from the husks and then boil them in hot water containing lime mineral. This would soften the corn to make it easier to grind; however, there are added health benefits to this method as lime mineral added much needed calcium to the tortillas. After the corn is softened, it would be ground into dough on a "metate" or a three-legged grinding stone. This would literally take hours upon hours.



Eventually, enough dough or "masa" would be made to make enough tortillas for the day. The women would then shape the dough into even thin discs and place them on a "comal" or griddle to cook. Tortillas were designed to economical in every way, they negate the need for plates and utensils and require little fire wood to cook, a rare commodity at the time.