Quick Heirloom Corn Tortillas
Adapted from Masienda.
The great dinner debate at our house growing up was always: corn vs. flour.
We were talking specifically about tortillas. We ate tortillas, or torts as we affectionately call them in our family, with almost every meal. With eggs in the morning, wrapped around leftover beans for a quick lunch, or to scoop up a plate full of, well, anything for a hearty dinner. In our Mexican-American home were both a utensil and a part of the meal.
Take a guess as to which one has one out now that I have a kitchen of my own.
In my twenties I had a conversation with my great aunt about her recent self-imposed (and doctor-recommended) limit to one tortilla per meal. I think I gasped. It had never occurred to me that part of keeping Type 1 Diabetes at bay for Mexican Americans would mean limiting our intake of tortillas. But living in the US the Standard American Diet has changed health outcomes for many people used to other cuisines.
The Traditional Mexican Diet, including an emphasis on plant protein (specifically pinto beans), along with plenty of fruit, vegetables, full-fat milk, animal fats and whole grains, has been shown to be an healthier alternative to the Standard American Diet (Santiago-Torres, 2016). Corn tortillas are a staple of the TMexD, and make up most of the whole grains consumed in this style of cooking.
While I’ve gone back and forth on the great tortilla debate, and I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for big soft flour torts, these days I’m leaning towards corn.
Homemade corn torts can be on the table within 15 minutes. Because the corn is whole, we end up benefiting from more whole grain nutrients that you can get from standard four tortillas. And although we have stories of my Grandma making a gigantic stack of homemade flour tortillas every day, they were always made with white flour, and they take much more work to roll out. It’s possible to make them with whole wheat flour and increase their nutritional content, but they need to be rolled out by hand, instead of the simple press required by corn tortillas, so they’re much more labor intensive.
Corn tortillas are still made the same way they have been for thousands of years all throughout Mesoamerica. The flour, called masa harina, is made from the whole ground corn kernels which have been stone-ground and nixtamalized, is mixed with water, and then formed into a flat disc, and then they’re ready to heat and eat. It couldn't be simpler.
Nixtamalization, or alkaline cooking, is a process that turns corn kernels, which have few bioavailable nutrients, are hard to digest, and are typically laden with fungus that’s toxic for human consumption (Kamau, 2020), into a nutritious whole grain food that is a staple all over Latin America. This is a centuries-old process that is still used today (Mendez-Albores, 2014), in which the corn, or maize, is soaked in calcium hydroxide, or also known as lime water, rinsed, hulled and rehydrated, then ground down into flour. Nixtamalization reduces the concentration of carcinogenic mycotoxins, or fumonisins (Voss, 2017), and other forms of fungi that form in grains like corn during cultivation, transport and storage, by up to 80% (Mendez-Albores, 2014).
While corn tortillas can be found ready to heat and eat in the grocery store, most come with preservatives and additives to increase shelf life and pliability. They also are made from unknown sources of masa harina, which may be genetically-engineered corn, especially if grown in the US. In August 2023, the US challenged a Mexican presidential decree from February 2023 banning GE corn in dough and tortillas (Congressional Research Service, 2024). For now, using organic, heirloom corn is the safest bet, and my family prefers a company called Masienda, with its commitment to “equitable farming and ancestral techniques” (Masienda, n.d.a). This recipe is adapted from their website, which has many wonderful resources and loads of inspiration.
My hope is to inspire you to take the time to learn this simple technique, bringing the humble tortilla into the place of honor it deserves, as it has been passed down through the ages, from my Grandma, my Mom, and now on to my daughter Silje. And to you.
Quick Heirloom Corn Tortillas
Adapted from Masienda
Serving size: Makes a dozen tortillas - Perfect as a side for 4, or for six quesadillas which makes a great lunch for 2.
Cooking time: 30 min (15 min to warm up comal / 15 min active cook time)
Ingredients:
Masa harina - 1 cup loosely packed (see Note 1)
Water - 1 cup, hot
Optional toppings include: butter, cheese, hot sauce, salsa
Equipment:
Comal or cast iron pan with low edges (Note 2)
Tortilla press (see Note 3)
Saran wrap (see Note 4)
Tortilla warmer (see Note 5)
Directions:
Turn on the comal, or cast iron pan (see Note 2). Let it warm up for about 15 minutes for an evenly heated cooking surface.
Heat water. Water can be taken from the tap. You can also use a water kettle, but let it cool down if it starts to boil. Water should be cool enough to touch (see Note 6).
In a large mixing bowl, mix masa harina with hot water by hand, kneading gently to fully incorporate and continue working it until you get a smooth, almost bouncy, consistency. If you roll a ball and press it down between your palms, the edges shouldn't crack. If they do, add a little more hot water and massage it into your masa. If it’s wet enough to stick your hands, add more dry masa harina and incorporate. Adjust as necessary to get the right consistency.
Fit two pieces of plastic wrap to each plate of a tortilla press. Loosely fitted will work just fine. You should only need two pieces each time you make tortillas (see Note 4).
Pull out a palm-sized piece of masa, approx. 2”. Roll it between your hands until it forms a smooth ball, and place it in the tortilla press. Press gently to form the ball into a tortilla, not too much pressure or your tortilla will be too thin (see Note 3). Carefully remove plastic wrap and place it directly on the comal.
Cook each tortilla as you press them. Heat for about 30 seconds, flip for 20 seconds, then flip a second time. You may spritz your tortillas to give them a little more moisture on the comal and get them to puff up nicely (se Note 7). Try the first one with a small dab of butter on one side, rolled up. Place each cooked tortilla in your tortilla warmer. If they seem crispy, they’ll soften up in the tortilla warmer.
Enjoy with butter, warm up a stack to eat with dinner, or make them into quesadillas.
Variations:
We like to eat fresh corn tortillas with our beans once a week, making little tacos or scooping up the beans with a torn piece of tort instead of a fork, adding a dab of salsa and sour cream to each bite.
They’re also amazing in the morning with eggs and chili crunch.
When we were girls, my sister Rebecca and I would roll them up hot off the comal with a bunch of butter inside, and try to eat them before the melted butter ran down our sleeves.
For quesadillas, heat two cooked tortillas with a layer of cheese between them, adding chopped scallions and a sprinkle of cayenne inside.
My favorite meal, chicken en mole, is a wonderful mean to eat with corn tortillas (or flour!).
Notes & Tips:
We like Masienda masa harina because we know it’s single-origin corn that isn’t genetically-engineered. There is also a great organic masa harina available from King Arthur flour, which is even smoother.
The comal I have is a fancy one my husband got me for my birthday a few years ago. It’s made by the Smithey Ironware Company. Before that I used the stainless steel griddle built into our mid-century stove. The comal my Mom had growing up was one she got from my Grandma Lucy. Any cast iron pan will work, but if it’s too deep it will be hard to flip the tortillas. Make sure it’s well seasoned so yours don’t stick.
Here are some good options for a tortilla press. Practice pressing your tortillas and heating them a couple times. The key is to get them consistent, and thin enough that they cook all the way through, but thick enough that they don’t rip or tear easily.
A cut plastic bag works great too, especially the new thick ones that are available here in Washington State. There are some reusable products available online, made from silicone or thin plastic, that can help reduce the use of thin plastic wrap, including these from Macienda.
A folded kitchen towel works great for a tortilla warmer, or this one is nice for a small meal. For family dinner, we use a woven basket like this, with a heated terracotta insert.
I use my electric kettle, which is made of glass and not plastic. You can also heat water on the stove. Be sure it’s as hot as you can stand it, but not too hot to handle. This helps the masa begin to bloom in flavor and makes the cooked tortillas more easily digestible.
The puff is also known as the pancita, and the Masienda website has some nice posts about it here and here.
Scholarly References:
Calderón de la Barca, A. M., Martínez-Díaz, G., Ibarra-Pastrana, É. N., Devi, S., Kurpad, A. V., & Valencia, M. E. (2021). Pinto Bean Amino Acid Digestibility and Score in a Mexican Dish with Corn Tortilla and Guacamole, Evaluated in Adults Using a Dual-Tracer Isotopic Method. The Journal of nutrition, 151(10), 3151–3157. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxab216
Congressional Research Service. (2024, June 5). The U.S.-Mexico Genetically Engineered Corn Dispute, Report R48083. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R48083#:~:text=A%20tentative%20schedule%20estimates%20that,report%20approximately%20in%20November%202024
Kamau, E. H., Nkhata, S. G., & Ayua, E. O. (2020). Extrusion and nixtamalization conditions influence the magnitude of change in the nutrients and bioactive components of cereals and legumes. Food Science & Nutrition, 8(4), 1753–1765. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.1473
Mendez-Albores, A., Cardenas-Rodriguez, D. A., & Vazquez-Duran, A. (2014). Efficacy of Microwave-Heating during Alkaline Processing of Fumonisin-Contaminated Maize. Iranian journal of public health, 43(2), 147–155.
Orona-Tamayo, D., Valverde, M. E., & Paredes-López, O. (2018). Bioactive peptides from selected latin american food crops – A nutraceutical and molecular approach. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 59(12), 1949–1975. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2018.1434480
Saari, J. T., Reeves, P. G., Johnson, W. T., & Johnson, L. K. (2006). Pinto Beans Are a Source of Highly Bioavailable Copper in Rats. The Journal of Nutrition, 136(12), 2999–3004. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.12.2999
Santiago-Torres, M., Kratz, M., Lampe, J. W., Tapsoba, J. D. D., Breymeyer, K. L., Levy, L., Villaseñor, A., Wang, C.-Y., Song, X., & Neuhouser, M. L. (2016). Metabolic responses to a traditional Mexican diet compared with a commonly consumed US diet in women of Mexican descent: a randomized crossover feeding trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 103(2), 366–374. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.119016
Voss, K., Ryu, D., Jackson, L., Riley, R., & Gelineau-van Waes, J. (2017). Reduction of Fumonisin Toxicity by Extrusion and Nixtamalization (Alkaline Cooking). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 65(33), 7088–7096. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.6b05761
General References:
Masienda. (n.d.a). Our story. https://masienda.com/pages/story
Masienda. (n.d.b). Our Best Recipe For Homemade Tortillas Using Masa Harina. https://masienda.com/blogs/learn/recipe-tortillas-masa-harina
