These Spots Are Restoring Corn to Its Place of Honor in the Mexican Diet
They’re also hoping to make it worthwhile for Mexican farmers to grow historic strains
This story is part of a partnership series with New Worlder, the site that responsibly covers food and drink, chefs and restaurants, farmers, fishermen, and conservationists of the Americas in a way that appeals to both an American and a Latin American audience.
By Lesley Téllez
For at least the last 50 years in Mexico City, if you wanted fresh corn tortillas or corn dough, or masa, you went to one place: the neighborhood tortillería.
Those tortillerías all sold, and sell, a nearly identical product — a flat, round disc made from white corn. But if consumers were wondering where the corn came from — Mexico? The United States? Elsewhere? — it would be difficult to trace.
There is little transparency about tortillas in Mexico, and many tortillerías rely on nixtamalized corn flour (when corn is soaked, cooked in an alkaline solution, washed, then hulled) such as Maseca or Minsa to make their tortillas. A cheaper way to make masa, it sacrifices the tortilla’s flavor and elastic texture.
