Tortillas Book in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Maize and wheat tortillas are considered staple foods for the inhabitants of Mexico and Central America. Maize tortillas were inherited from the Aztecs, whereas wheat tortillas were first produced after the arrival of the Spaniards who brought wheat to Mexico. The traditional method to process maize into tortillas consists of cooking maize kernels in an alkaline (calcium hydroxide) solution followed by stone grinding to produce masa, sheeting and forming it into thin disks, and then baking into tortillas. The ancient nixtamalization process is nowadays adapted to high processing manufacturing procedures aimed toward the production of fresh and dry masa flours widely used throughout the globe for manufacturing table tortillas, corn chips, and tortillas chips. Wheat tortillas are produced from refined or whole flours, which are mixed with water, shortening or lard, salt, baking powder, and other ingredients to yield a gluten-developed dough that is divided into balls and formed into flat disks. The disks are baked on both sides to yield tortillas. Both corn and wheat flour tortillas are mainly used as wraps to produce tacos, burritos, and related products and greatly influence the nutritional status of their consumers.

publication date

  • September 14, 2015