# Fresh corn tortillas: ever had 'em? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781 "2012-10-15T15:41:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781/61 "2012-10-18T02:19:31Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#): > > I think we have different ideas about what a fresh tortilla is. Fresh tortillas here don’t come in packages and don’t have a brand name. Most homes have a cloth that makes the trip to the tortilleria and that is what they are wrapped in. If you don’t take your own wrapper then they are wrapped in paper. many times you will see the people lined up waiting for the tortillas as they are sold directly from the comal or tortilla machine. Tortillas are for the most part sold within minutes of their fabrication. > > Packaged brand named tortillas are sold at supermarkets. But no one here would call them fresh and they are a very small amount of the tortilla market. I suspect there are food safety regulations here that would prohibit that sort of thing. It’s basically impossible to buy any kind of fresh baked good here without being given a bag or wrapper for it. Even if I ask the person behind the counter not to give me a bag, they won’t hand me, say, a cookie without providing their own wrapper/napkin/paper of some sort. [One local tortilleria](http://www.taqueriasatotonilco.com/locations.php?i=3) here is open 24 hours Friday through Sunday. I don’t live in their neighborhood, but when I’ve gone there, there has certainly been high turnover. Even in my own neighborhood, when I buy tortillas they are usually still warm and steaming. I’ve also bought tortillas in small corner shops in Mexico, and I’m no expert, but I couldn’t taste the difference from the ones I buy here. Seriously, what is your point? Are you trying to prove that the Mexican food in a city where there are more than half a million Mexicans isn’t as authentic as the same thing made in Mexico from the same ingredients? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781/62 "2012-10-18T03:16:59Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Seriously, what is your point? Are you trying to prove that the Mexican food in a city where there are more than half a million Mexicans isn’t as authentic as the same thing made in Mexico from the same ingredients? Forget it, [del]Jake[/del] **Eva** , it’s [del]Chinatown[/del] Mexico. He won’t let it go and you’ll only wear yourself out. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781/63 "2012-10-19T03:55:12Z")
I live in China, so I have to make my own tortillas if I want corn tortillas. We brought several kilograms of Maseca with us, and sometimes one of the Shanghai foreign food stores sells a Quaker version of masaharina. They’re incredibly easy to make. Ah, but you asked about _fresh_ tortillas. Yup, I’ve done that, too, using Alton Brown’s method. I had several grams of calcium hydroxide, and when I found some old, dried pozole corn (hominy?), I though that I’d make some tortillas. It worked quite well, and the tortillas and tostadas that I made were excellent. I tried again with sweet, yellow corn, since that’s all I can buy in China. That didn’t work so well, because I didn’t dry out the corn first. All in all, though, for the amount of work and time involved, using the Maseca is an excellent solution. It’s what most of the tortilla shops in Mexico use anyway. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781/64 "2012-10-22T14:34:31Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I. Yup, I’ve done that, too, using Alton Brown’s method. I had several grams of calcium hydroxide, and when I found some old, dried pozole corn (hominy?), I though that I’d make some tortillas. Hominy has already been nixtamalized (treated with calcium hydroxide), so that step would have been unnecessary. For fresh tortillas that you want to nixtamalize yourself, you start with dried corn (usually white.) I don’t know exactly what you started with, but if it’s something labeled “hominy,” that’s not the right starting point. [Here’s a picture](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Nixtamalized_Corn_maize_El_Salvador_recipe.jpg) of dried corn and then what it looks like after nixtamalization. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781/65 "2012-10-22T14:53:44Z")
Actually, I think [there are better pictures](http://chanfles.com/comida/nixtamal/index.html), but it depends on what type of corn you start with. It’s actually a bit confusing, as it appears the lye/cal treatment is not a universal definition of “hominy,” so it depends on how they’re using the word. Seems the common theme is that hominy is corn that’s been hulled and stripped of bran and germ. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781/66 "2012-10-22T21:11:30Z")
You bet I’ve had fresh corn tortillas – patted out & cooked on a comal. In Mexico, many years ago. I WANT SOME! I live in Maine and there is NO MEXICAN FOOD (that is edible, much less tasty) ANYWHERE :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-corn-tortillas-ever-had-em/637781.md?page=3)