# Best place to buy tortillas in Tucson? Need answer fast! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377 "2011-11-18T19:07:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/1 "2011-11-18T19:07:38Z")
I’m in town until Sunday morning (in Tucson) but realistically the latest I could go to a store is Saturday afternoon. I just got to thinking how much I miss being able to buy really big, really thin tortillas like I could buy when I lived in Tucson. In the Boston suburb I live in now, you can buy 10" or sometimes if you’re lucky 12" tortillas, and they’re the really thick, bready kind that don’t roll up very well and tend to crack if you fry a burrito to make a chimichanga. So I thought to myself… “hey, self, why not buy some tortillas while you’re in town and take them home? You could use some right away and probably be able to freeze some.” The problem is, the two places I used to buy tortillas when I lived here are no longer around. I know there are a few Tucson dopers around here, so I was hoping that maybe they’d spot this thread and help a girl out. So how about it, Tucson dopers? Know of a good place to buy large, preferably thin tortillas? _crossing fingers_ ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/2 "2011-11-19T01:52:10Z")
Bump for the evening crowd… ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/3 "2011-11-19T02:01:00Z")
I can’t answe but try asking here: > **[LTHForum.com - Index page](https://lthforum.com/bb/index.php)** > > Chicago culinary chat. Home of the Great Neighborhood Restaurant (GNR) award. or here: [http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/6](http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/6) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/4 "2011-11-19T02:23:01Z")
IIRC, most tortillas are made with lard. Being a vegetarian and all, you might want to try and seek out ones made with shortening. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/5 "2011-11-19T02:29:43Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > IIRC, most tortillas are made with lard. Being a vegetarian and all, you might want to try and seek out ones made with shortening. Corn tortillas generally do not have lard. Wheat may or may not, but pretty much all the corn tortillas I’ve had have just been masa or masa harina+water. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/6 "2011-11-19T02:33:32Z")
Oh, good call, yes…I was only thinking of flour tortillas. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/7 "2011-11-19T02:34:29Z")
Once you run out of the ones you find to take home, making tortillas is actually incredibly easy. You might want to consider that possibility. You’d need flour or masa, and a tortilla press, but after that, it’s just a matter of practice. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/8 "2011-11-19T02:36:44Z")
Wal-mart. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/9 "2011-11-19T02:53:05Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Once you run out of the ones you find to take home, making tortillas is actually incredibly easy. You might want to consider that possibility. You’d need flour or masa, and a tortilla press, but after that, it’s just a matter of practice. AFAIK, flour tortillas are normally rolled out with [one of these guys](http://www.texasrollingpins.com/palotebuy.html), not pressed. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/10 "2011-11-19T02:57:30Z")
Flapjacks in Fort Lauderdale? Waffles in Waterloo? Pitas in Pittsburg? ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/11 "2011-11-19T03:30:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > AFAIK, flour tortillas are normally rolled out with [one of these guys](http://www.texasrollingpins.com/palotebuy.html), not pressed. I’ve done them with either. A regular rolling pin would work, too. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/12 "2011-11-20T00:10:38Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Once you run out of the ones you find to take home, making tortillas is actually incredibly easy. You might want to consider that possibility. You’d need flour or masa, and a tortilla press, but after that, it’s just a matter of practice. Tortilla presses won’t make the big 18" size I want, though. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/13 "2011-11-25T22:03:47Z")
Ok, I’m back home in Massachusetts now, so I can’t buy them directly, but I’m considering asking my mom, who lives in Tucson, to buy me some tortillas and ship them here as a Christmas gift. So now with the “need answer fast” removed… anyone know where I can get big (like 18") tortillas in Tucson? There has to be places that sell them. There were when I lived there. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/14 "2011-11-25T23:28:22Z")
If you’ve ever watched a(n) Hispanic mama making fresh tortillas for her family’s evening meal, flour tortillas are stretched and pulled and rolled into shape. The gluten in the flour enables this plastic texture to the dough. Corn tortillas made from masa harina do not have that plasticity, and are formed best in a tortilla press. Of course they can be rolled out by hand, but the press will give you uniform thickness that most people cannot produce with the masa, unless they’ve been making them for a hundred years or so. IMHO, if you wish to make your own tortillas, learn from someone who makes them already. FEEL the ingredients as they are being mixed, and shape them under the tutelage of an expert. You MIGHT be able to make them from a recipe: if you can, more power to you. In my life, though, tortilla making is an act of love, and that is something instilled, not educated. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-buy-tortillas-in-tucson-need-answer-fast/603377/15 "2011-11-26T02:06:17Z")
I don’t know any hispanic families around here, for one. For another, the tortillas that I remember buying were not only large in diameter, but also quite thin. I don’t think I could roll out such thin tortillas on my own.