Flour tortilla

Although it has its origin in Mexico, the flour tortilla was invented once the Spanish introduced wheat to Mexico in the 16th century. According to historical sources, the Spanish first introduced wheat to the lands around Mexico City in 1523. Having found great success, the cultivation of wheat soon spread beyond the Central Mexican Plateau through Catholic monks. It reached the region of Michoacán in the 1530s with the Franciscans, while the Dominicans brought it to Oaxaca in the 1540s and gave grain to the inhabitants of that region to produce flour and prepare unleavened bread, which was traditionally prepared for religious ceremonies in the Catholic Church.^[3]

 

The wheat growing region of Mexico was in the temperate and cold regions between 4000 and 6000 ft to 9000 ft above sea level.^[4] The majority of wheat was produced in Central Mexico, with the main wheat growing regions being the Lerma Valley (Toluca Valley),^[5] the Atlixco^[6] and San Martin Valleys in Puebla, and the Bajío region; these areas produced the most valued and esteemed wheat in the country.^[7][8] Within these regions, the largest producing states were Jalisco, Guanajuato and Puebla.^[9] The top six wheat producing states in the 1890’s, based on the median yield measured in hectoliters, were: Jalisco, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Puebla and the State of Mexico; with the exception of Chihuahua, all in Central Mexico.^[10]

An 1884 report on the commerce between the United States and Mexico, states:

“Wheat grows on the plateau of Mexico at from 6,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level, and between the 18th and 24th parallels of latitude. […] The wheat growing area of Mexico, par excellence, extends from, say, Puebla nearly to Colima, about 500 miles east and west, and from Southern Michoacán to Zacatecas, about 400 miles north and south. This plateau is broken by mountain ranges into a number of rich districts specially adapted for the growing of wheat, namely, the Lerma Valley, roughly, 200 by 16 miles; the Bajio (Northern Michoacán, Jalisco and Southern Guanajuato), 200 by 200miles; Aguascalientes, 50 by 50 miles; the San Luis Potosi and Queretaro district, 150 by 30 miles.”^[11]

Considering that most wheat production was in Central and Southern Mexico, not in the North, it is probable that wheat flour tortillas may have originated in this region. Flour tortillas could be found in places like San Luis Potosí, another of the wheat regions of Mexico, but which is no longer considered an area where flour tortillas are considered a “staple”.^[12] A recipe for flour tortillas appears in the Mexican Cookbook -Diccionario de Cocina o el Nuevo Cocinero Mexicano en forma de Diccionario (1845)- a cookbook with recipes mainly from central and southern Mexico.^[13]

Based on historical records, corn tortillas were the main staple “bread” in Northern Mexico and what is now the South Western United States in the 19th century, just as in Central and Southern Mexico. In fact, we very rarely find mentions of flour tortillas, and when one does, they’re usually second to corn tortillas as the main tortilla. Corn tortillas were the staple “bread” in New Mexico,^{[14][15][16][17]} Arizona,^[18][19] California,^[20][21][22] Texas,^[23][24][25]

From the early years of the Spanish Colonial era, corn and corn tortillas were the basis of the diet of the inhabitants of the so-called “borderlands”. French explorer, Pierre Marie François de Pagés, who visited Texas in 1767, details the humble diet of the inhabitants of Los Adaes, then the capital of the province, consisting mainly of corn tortillas. Wheat was unavailable in Texas:

“The chief means of their subsistence is Indian corn, which they boil, mixed with quick-lime, by which the hulk is dissolved to a kind of powder, and the grain considerably softened. Having washed and bruised it on a chocolatestone, it is formed into a lump of paste, which they knead with their hands. Of this dough they make a sort of cake, which is toasted on a plate of iron laid over the fire. This bread is the native food of the people in New Spain; and, indeed, when these thin cakes, or rather wafers, named by the Spaniards tortillas, are well baked, they are far from being unpleasant.”^[26]

The same was true in the province of Sonora, where the German Jesuit missionary, Ignaz Pfefferkorn, described in 1756 how corn tortillas were the staple “bread” of the Sonorans, even in the wealthiest homes:

“Sonorans also make thin, round maize cakes, about a quarter of an ell in diameter. These are eaten instead of bread. They are made by putting maize in water the evening before to soften it during the night so that in the morning the skin can be peeled off the kernels. When this has been done the women grind the pith on the metate and with a little water knead a dough out of it. From the dough they break off one dumpling after, beat, turn, and stretch it between the hands until the above-mentioned cakes, or so-called tortillas, are of the proper thickness and size. These are then baked on the fire in a flat earthen dish. The Sonorans and Mexican-born Spaniards eat these cakes with the same relish as Europeans do the very best bread. They even consider them superior to the most excellent wheat bread baked in Mexico City and elsewhere. Tortillas are eaten also in the most aristocratic households.[…] The Spaniards, as has been said, make much fuss over these cakes […]”^[27]

While in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 1840’s, American explorer and merchant, Josiah Gregg, wrote:

“The staple productions of the country are emphatically Indian corn and wheat. The former grain is most extensively employed for making tortillas an article of food greatly in demand among the people, the use of which has been transmitted to them by the aborigines. The corn is boiled in water with a little lime: and when it has been sufficiently softened, so as to strip it of its skin, it is ground into paste upon the metate, and formed into a thin cake. This is afterwards spread on a small sheet of iron or copper, called comal (comalli, by the Indians), and placed over the fire, where, in less than three minutes, it is baked and ready for use.^[28]

Pierre Fourier Parisot (1827-1903), a French Catholic missionary in 19th century American Texas, wrote similarly about the corn tortilla in the state 1857:

“. . . we became acquainted with the tortilla. Bread in the Mexican ranches is not a wheaten loaf, but thin tortillas made from corn meal without any yeast. The women soften the corn in lime water and place it on a flat stone called a metate, and then with another stone shaped like a rolling-pin they grind the corn into a paste. This paste is then patted with the hands into thin cakes and baked quickly on a metal plate. Tortillas and frijoles (beans) are the principal food of the Mexican ranchero. This bill of fare is hardly ever changed by the poor, sometimes they have frijoles and chile (red pepper), an egg or two, chile con carne (red pepper with meat), or soft red pepper. The manner of eating tortillas and frijoles is soon learned by Americans or any others, who have been amongst the poorer class of Mexicans. They spread the beans or eggs on the thin cake, using it as a plate. Then they double up another cake, which they use as a spoon, and with this they convey the beans or eggs to the mouth. When the beans have been eaten, they consume the plate and the spoon.”^[29]

Central Mexico started to lose its status, as the country’s largest wheat producing region, to Northern Mexico, until the 1930’s, after the Mexican Revolution, when Coahuila became the largest wheat producer in 1931, replacing Guanajuato, which had been the largest producer until that point.^[30] It is probable that wheat flour tortillas only became the main “bread” around this time.

The name itself comes from Latin. Tortilla is the diminutive of torta, a shortened form of torta panis (twisted bread), which has cognates in different romance languages such as tourte in French or torta in Italian. These words have different meanings but all of them refer to a cake-shaped bread or preparation.^[31]

One of the most common folk origin stories is that flour tortillas were invented in Northern Mexico, based on the erroneous belief that wheat could only be grown in the north while corn could only grow in the south. Some argue that hot and arid climates, like that of Sonora, are less supportive for growing corn,^[32] thus, it grew poorly while it was more suitable for wheat.^[33] Because of this, some argue that the Spaniards did not know how to make corn tortillas in the North, so they decided to make them from flour.^[34]

But the evidence proves the opposite, as most wheat was grown in Central Mexico until the mid 20th century. While corn was plentiful in Northern Mexico and the American Southwest, and constituted the main dietary staple of the inhabitants of the region, and was, in no way, hampered by the harsh, hot and dry climate.

German Jesuit priest, Ignaz Pfefferkorn, who lived in Sonora from 1756 until 1767, wrote that Sonorans depended on corn for most of their diet and ate it in many forms, stating that besides tortillas:

“The Spaniards also make different kinds of pastries from maize flour. The most important are puchas, biscochuelos, and tamales.[…] In the field and on journeys, where there is no convenience for cooking, the Sonorans eat maize. They take along the amount needed in the form of pinole. This is prepared by the women. After the maize has been somewhat softened in water and then dried out they roast it in an earthen dish and stir it constantly so that it does not burn. In roasting, the kernels burst open, and the pith breaks forth just like snow-white flowers. Maize roasted in this manner is called esquita and is not unpleasant to eat. The esquita is then ground on the metate to make pinole.[…] The Sonorans eat maize with the greatest pleasure and with special appetite when it is fresh from the field, ripe but still tender. They break off the so-called elotes (the thick ears with kernels attached to them) and cook and serve them with the olla (boiled mutton). In this form the elotes appear on the best tables, for the Mexican-born Spaniards everywhere like this dish just as much as do the Indians. For this reason elotes are sold in the city markets just as vegetables in Europe. Some roast them in hot embers as is done with tamales. This indisputably improves their flavor, which is somewhat similar to that of roast chestnuts.^[35]

Others attribute the origin of flour tortillas to the Jews, specifically the Crypto-Jews and Conversos, the exiled Spanish Jews that lived in Mexico.^[36] According to this hypothesis, these Jews invented or introduced the flour tortilla as a substitution for Matzah or unleavened bread,^[37] supposedly because they considered corn as non-kosher since it was fed to pigs.^[38] But the Spanish Jews were mostly Sephardic, and had a completely different diet and never followed such restrictions, thus, corn was considered kosher.^[39][40] In fact, evidence from the 17th century Mexican Inquisition, in the Archivo General de la Nación, shows that Jews in northern Mexico were consuming corn tortillas because they had no access to wheaten unleavened bread^[41][42] and, in many cases, their consumption was used as evidence against them, as was the case of Salomón de Machorro, a Sephardic Jewish man who was denounced and tried in 1650 for having consumed corn tortillas with fish and vegetables during Passover.^[43][44]

Some writers argue that the reason flour tortillas are rarely mentioned in 19th century texts, specially those from Texas, is because of racism, segregation and the "ethnic cleansing" of the Tejano people after the Texas Revolution of 1836.^[45] But, there’s no evidence to support this and, on the contrary, there’s evidence that show that corn tortillas were the only tortilla mentioned in texts even before the secession of Texas from Mexico.^[46] In fact, some evidence shows that wheat was extremely scarce in Texas before it seceded from Mexico in 1836,^[47][48] Pierre-Marie-François de Pàges, for example, couldn’t find wheat bread in Texas until he reached Saltillo in the 1760’s.^[49]

Tortilla, from Spanish torta, cake, plus the diminutive -illa, literally means "little cake".

Tortilla in Iberian Spanish also means omelette.^[50][51] As such, this wheat flour flatbread tortilla is not to be confused with the Spanish omelette or any other egg based one.

 

 

Wheat tortillas are a staple of the northern Mexican states^[52] (such as Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihuahua) and throughout the Southwestern United States.

Tortillas vary in size from about 6 to over 30 cm (2.4 to over 12 in), depending on the region of the country and the dish for which it is intended.

Industrially-produced tortillas typically contain numerous chemicals in order to ease the production process, control texture and flavor, and to extend shelf life. Work has been done at Washington State University to develop methods for producing tortillas on a mass scale while still using only whole-wheat flour, water, oil, and salt, with a fermented flour-and-water sourdough starter replacing chemical leaveners.^[53]

 

Today, personal and industrial (Mexican-style) tortilla-making equipment has facilitated and expedited tortilla making. Manually operated wooden tortilla presses of the past led to today's industrial tortilla machinery, which can produce up to 60,000 tortillas per hour. Tortillas are now not only made from maize meal, but also from wheat flour; home-made and store-bought tortillas are made in many flavors and varieties.

Tortillas remain a staple food in Mexico and Central America, and have gained popularity and market share elsewhere. In the U.S., tortillas have grown from an "ethnic" to a mainstream food. They have surpassed bagels and muffins, and have now become the number two packaged bread product sold in the U.S (behind sliced bread).^{[citation needed]} The Tortilla Industry Association (TIA) estimates that in the U.S. alone, the tortilla industry (tortillas and their products – tortilla chips, tostada shells and taco shells) has become a US$6 billion a year industry.^[54]

Soft wheat tortillas use wheat instead of masa as the primary ingredient. The Mission Foods brand lists the following ingredients: enriched bleached wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, vegetable shortening (interesterified soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil and/or palm oil), contains 2% or less of: salt, sugar, leavening (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate and/or sodium acid pyrophosphate, calcium sulfate), distilled monoglycerides, enzymes, wheat starch, calcium carbonate, antioxidants (tocopherols, ascorbic acid, citric acid), cellulose gum, guar gum, dough conditioner (fumaric acid, sodium metabisulfite and/or mono- and diglycerides), calcium propionate and sorbic acid (to preserve freshness).^[55]

The recipe recommended by American chef and restaurateur Rick Bayless who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine uses just four ingredients: flour, lard, salt, and water.^[56]

The nutritional information for the Mission brand 49 g wheat tortilla is:^[57]

• total fat: 3.5 g (saturated 3.5 g, monounsaturated 1 g) – 5% daily allowance
• sodium: 420 mg – 18% daily allowance
• total carbohydrate: 24 g – 8% daily allowance
• dietary fiber: 1 g – 4% daily allowance
• protein: 4 g
• calcium: 8% daily allowance
• iron: 8% daily allowance

Wheat flour tortillas have been used on many American spaceflights since 1985 as an easy solution to the problems of handling food in microgravity and preventing bread crumbs from escaping into delicate instruments.^[58]

The word "tortilla" in these countries is used to refer to the ubiquitous corn tortilla, made of maize. In Mexico burritos are made with wheat tortillas. Flour tortillas are also very popular in Tex-Mex food and plates like fajitas. Flour tortilla with beans and eggs was very popular in northern Mexico and in the Southwest. The origin of the flour tortilla was northern Mexico and this is why so many plates are made with it like quesadillas as well as burritos, chimichangas and fajitas served with flour tortilla and bean taco or chorizo taco. The flour tortilla is the sister to the corn tortilla which was created first. From Mexico City southward the corn tortilla is more popular but in northern Mexico, where it originated, the flour tortilla may be as popular, if not more popular, than the corn tortilla.

Flour tortillas are commonly filled with meat, chopped potatoes, refried beans, cheese, hot sauce and other ingredients to make dishes such as tacos, quesadillas and burritos (a dish originating in the Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico/El Paso, Texas area).

In Northern Mexico and much of the United States, "tortillas" mean wheat-flour tortillas.^{[citation needed]} They are the foundation of Mexican border cooking. Their popularity was driven by the low cost of inferior grades of wheat flour provided to border markets and by their ability to keep and ship well.^[59]

In Guam, it is called titiyas and it is paired with kelaguen mannok.

Tortilla art is the use of tortillas as a substrate for painting. Tortillas are baked and then covered in acrylic before they are painted.^[60]

 

Tortillas in Central America sometimes differ somewhat from their Mexican counterparts, although are made similarly. In Guatemala and El Salvador, the tortillas are about 5 millimeters thick and about 10 centimeters in diameter, thicker than Mexican tortillas, but similar in size to Mexican gorditas. Like the Mexican tortillas, the maize is soaked in a mixture of water and lime (or lye), then rinsed and ground. In El Salvador, they sometimes use sorghum (called maicillo there) to make tortillas when there is not enough maize.^[61] Also in El Salvador, there is a particularly large and thick tortilla called a "chenga"^[62] on top of which food is placed, like an edible plate, to serve food to the labourers in coffee plantations and farms.

Honduras is well known for using wheat flour tortillas to make baleadas, which consist of a wheat flour tortilla, folded in half, with various items (beans, cream, scrambled eggs) put inside.

Maize and wheat tortillas can often be found in supermarkets in El Salvador and Costa Rica produced by Mexican companies.

Stuffed tortillas known as pupusas are also a famous dish of traditional Salvadoran cuisine.

Tortillas are widely used in the United States, in recipes of Mexican origin and many others. As a testament to their popularity, the Tortilla Industry Association (TIA) estimated Americans consumed approximately 85 billion tortillas in 2000 (not including tortilla chips). They are more popular than all other ethnic breads such as English muffins, pita bread, and bagels.^[63]

Tortilla chips –made from maize tortillas cut into wedges, then fried – first gained popularity in the 1940s in Los Angeles, California, and were mass-produced there. The ingredients in maize tortillas are maize, lime, and water. Fried chips add salt and vegetable oil.

Flour tortillas are commonly used in burritos. They are also used to make fajitas,^[64] wraps, sandwiches, quesadillas, casseroles and stews, and there are numerous other uses.

Many people from both Northern Mexico and throughout the Southwestern United States eat tortillas as a staple food. Many restaurants use wheat flour tortillas in a variety of non-Mexican and Mexican recipes. Many grocery stores sell ready-made tortillas.^[65]

•   Media related to Flour tortillas at Wikimedia Commons
•   Media related to Flour tortilla at Wikimedia Commons
•   Flour Tortilla at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject
•   Tortilla at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject
•   The dictionary definition of flour tortilla at Wiktionary