In North America, a corn tortilla or just tortilla (, spanish : [ toɾˈtiʝa ] ) is a type of thin, unleavened flatbread, made from hominy, that is the whole kernels of corn treated with alkali to improve their nutrition in a process called nixtamalization. A bare dough made of ground, dried hominy, salt and water is then formed into flat magnetic disk and cooked on a very blistering come on, by and large an iron griddle called a comate. A similar flatbread from South America, called an arepa ( though arepas are made with ground maize, not hominy, and are typically much thicker than tortillas ), predates the arrival of Europeans to America, and was called tortilla by the spanish from its resemblance to the traditional spanish round, unleavened cakes and omelettes ( in the first place made without potatoes, which are native to South America ). The Aztecs and other Nahuatl -speakers call tortillas tlaxcalli ( [ t͡ɬaʃˈkalli ] [ 1 ] ). The successful conquest of the Aztec empire by the spanish and the subsequent colonial empire ruled from the former Aztec das kapital have ensured that this variation become the archetypal tortilla for much of the spanish-speaking world. Maize kernels naturally occur in many colors, depending on cultivar : from pale white, to yellow, to red and bluish purple. Likewise, corn meal and the tortillas made from it may be similarly colored. White and chicken tortillas are by far the most park, however. In Mexico, there are three colors of maize dough for making tortillas : white corn, chicken gamboge and blasphemous corn ( besides referred to as black corn ).
Reading: Corn tortilla
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etymology [edit ]
Tortilla, from spanish torta, cake, plus the bantam -illa, literally means “ little cake ”. Nahuatl tlaxcalli is derived from the verb (i)xca “ to bake ” with the help of the prefix tla – and two coarse suffixes – l – and – li ( < - tli ), that is “ something bake ”. Tortilla in iberian Spanish besides means omelet. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] As such, this wheat flour flatbread tortilla is not to be confused with the spanish omelet or any other egg based one .
history [edit ]
[4] This draw is a diversion of the corn tortilla glyph found in the Codex Mendoza The corn tortilla was foremost developed in Mexico, during prehistoric times. It has since become a raw material carbohydrate in north american and mesoamerican cultures. It predates its derivative, the pale yellow flour tortilla ( tortilla de harina or tortilla de trigo ), in all such cultures. This is because old world wheat was neither known nor grown in the Americas prior to european colonization. In Aztec times two or three corn tortillas would be eaten with each meal, either plain or dipped in gram molecule or a chili pepper and water sauce. [ 5 ] Tortillas were besides sold at Aztec marketplaces filled with turkey kernel, turkey eggs, beans, honey, squash, barbed pears and respective preparations of chili pepper. [ 5 ] analogous staple carbohydrates in New World cultures, all made from hominy and serving a exchangeable nutritional function, include the sope, the totopo, the gordita, the tlacoyo of Mexico, and the pupusa of Central America. The arepa of northerly South America, though alike, is made with crunch maize, not hominy, and does not offer the lapp nutrition profile as foods whose gamboge has been processed with base. The tamal ( or tamale ) of Mexico is besides made from nixtamal ( the Nahuatl word for hominy is the source of the term ‘nixtamalization ‘ ), but is a lot slurred and a smasher unto itself, normally including other ingredients and flavors .
Mexico [edit ]
Maize has been a staple food for thousands of years. It is the most-planted crop in the mexican region. The state cultivates more than 42 distinct gamboge cultivars, each of which has several varieties. These varieties are estimated to number more than 3,000 by the International Center for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat ( CIMMYT ). The characteristics of each variety show depend upon soil conditions, humidity, altitude, and its means of cultivation. Some of the earliest evidence of corn cultivation suggests that its original domestication was in fact coincident in respective places. Maize is the basis of most mexican cuisine, with some exception in the culinary traditions of northerly Mexico, where wheat is taking the place of gamboge as the grain basal. In Mexico, the primary use of gamboge is the tortilla, but it is besides a principal ingredient in other foods including tamales and atole. The corn used for tortillas can be advanced and dry, but it is besides consumed fresh and mature ( gamboge ), or soft and fresh ( xilote ). [ 6 ] Tortillas are consumed casual. factory-made tortillas are wide sold, although they can well be made at home. Tortilla production starts in the early morning as lunch is the independent meal of the day for most people. In Mexico, lunch is eaten between 1:30 post meridiem and 3:30 post meridiem ( 1330 to 1530 ). Some supermarkets and grocery store stores sell newly made tortillas throughout the day. mexican and, more broadly, latin american dishes made with gamboge tortillas include :
readiness [edit ]
A tortilla is made by curing gamboge in limewater in the nixtamalization march, which causes the skin of the corn kernels to peel off ( the thriftlessness material is typically fed to poultry ), then grinding and cooking it, kneading it into a dough called masa nixtamalera, pressing it flat into thin patties using a rolling pin or a tortilla weigh, and cooking it on a very hot comal ( originally a flat terra cotta griddle, nowadays normally made of light sheet-metal rather ). [ 7 ] The process, called nixtamalization, was developed indigenously by pre-columbian cultures and predates european contact by many centuries, if not millennia. [ 7 ] Soaking the corn in limewater is important because it makes available the B vitamin niacin and the amino acid tryptophan. When corn was brought to Europe, Africa and Asia from the New World, this crucial step was frequently omitted. Those whose diet consisted largely of corn meal often became ill — because of the lack of niacin and tryptophan — with the lack disease pellagra, which was coarse in Spain, Northern Italy, and the southern United States. In Mexico, particularly in the towns and cities, corn tortillas are much made nowadays by machine and are very thin and uniform, but in many places in the country, they are silent made by hand, even when the nixtamal is ground into masa by machine. Corn tortillas are customarily served and consume warm ; when cool, they frequently become cartilaginous or farinaceous as the cooked starches stale. The largest tortilla producer in the world is the mexican company Gruma, headquartered in Monterrey. traditionally throughout Mesoamerica from pre-Hispanic times into the mid-20th hundred, the masa was prepared by women using a mano ( a cylinder-shaped gem like a rolling pin ) and metate ( a stone base with a slenderly concave peak for holding the corn ). This method acting is still used in some places in Mexico. The wheat flour tortilla was an invention after pale yellow was brought to the New World from Spain while this region was the colony of New Spain. It is made with an unleavened, water-based dough, pressed and cooked like corn tortillas. These tortillas are very similar to the unleavened boodle popular in Arab, easterly Mediterranean and southerly asian countries, though flimsy and smaller in diameter. In China the laobing ( 烙餅 ), a dense circular “ pancake ”, is exchangeable to the tortilla. The indian roti, which is made basically from wheat flour, is another model. Tortillas vary in size from about 6 to over 30 cm ( 2.4 to over 12 in ), depending on the area of the area and the dish for which it is intended. Among tortilla variants ( without being, rigorously speaking, tortillas ) there are pupusas, pishtones, gorditas, Sopes, and tlacoyos. They are smaller, thick versions to which beans, chicharrón, nopales or early ingredients have been added. They are customarily cooked on a grease pan.
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In Nicaragua, a type of tortillas called güirilas are besides consumed. They are made from young white corn. Güirilas are chummy, dulcet and filling. They are corrode alone, with cuajada and cream, meat, or accompanying a dish. In Argentina, Bolivia and southern Chile, the size of the tortilla is smaller. They are generally saltier, made from wheat or corn flour, and roasted in the ashes of a traditional adobe oven. This kind of tortilla is called sopaipilla ( not to be confused with a bouffant frybread of the same list common in the United States ). In Chile and Argentina, it may besides be sweetened after being cooked by boiling in sugar body of water. In commercial production and even in some larger restaurants, automatic machines make tortillas from boodle. A tortilla seller is, in Nahuatl languages : tlaxcalnamacac [ t͡ɬaʃkalnaˈmakak ] [ 1 ] or spanish : tortillero [ 8 ] [ toɾtiˈʝeɾo ] .
nutrition [edit ]
An uncooked corn tortilla made with nixtamalised corn at 46 % hydration and depending on corn diverseness used and variations, consists of 45 % carbohydrates, 3 % fat, and 6 % protein ( mesa ). In a 100 gram reference total, a raw corn tortilla supplies 218 calories and is a rich reference ( 20 % or higher of the Daily Value, DV ) of phosphorus ( 45 % DV ) and magnesium ( 20 % DV ). It is a mince source ( 10-19 % DV ) of vitamin B6, niacin, manganese, and zinc ( table ) .
Uses [edit ]
Corn tortillas are the basis of many traditional mexican dishes, such as taco, tostada, enchilada, flautas, quesadillas, chilaquiles, and tortilla soup ( sopa de tortilla ). Warmed corn whiskey tortillas are besides frequently served as an accompaniment to stews, soups, grilled meats and other dishes, as bread might be served in other cuisines. By contrast, wheat flour tortillas are much used for burrito and quesadillas, peculiarly in the United States. Corn tortilla may besides be trench fried to make crisp tortilla chips. These are often salted, and can be eaten alone or accompanied with diverse salsas and dips such as guacamole. Tortilla chips are a key ingredient in nacho .
gallery [edit ]
- Tortillas of blue corn
- Toasted tortillas are used for making tlayudas being sold by a street seller in Oaxaca
- automatic tortilla car ( explanation )
- machine making corn tortillas in Mexico City
- Tortillas being made in Old Town San Diego
See besides [edit ]
References [edit ]
Read more: Book Summary: Mind Really Own Business