One of the most famous ingredients in Mexican food is the tortilla. Everyone has seen it in different dishes and eaten in different ways, some that do not even exist in authentic Mexican cuisine, such as the famous 'hard shell tacos,' although we will leave that topic for later. But despite this, few know about the types that exist, whether made from flour or corn.
On this occasion, we are going to focus on the corn tortilla and its origin, as it could be said that it is more used in traditional dishes than wheat flour tortillas. What is the reason? It is very simple; corn is one of the staple foods of Mexican cuisine as it is part of the basic basket and can be said to be the bread that sustains Mexicans.
Apart from the high nutritional properties of this ingredient, corn has the ability to be very versatile, a factor that facilitates its usefulness for creating dishes, and it can be used in countless ways, such as a wrap in tacos, as a spoon in the form of totopo, or even as a plate when in the form of a tostada.
The history of corn in Mexico dates back to pre-Hispanic times, as for some civilizations like the Aztec and Maya, it was of utmost religious importance, being considered food of the gods, and even in their sacred book, the Popol Vuh, the creation of humanity is mentioned as being from different materials, one of which is corn itself.
Thanks to these cultures and the careful selection made by their inhabitants over thousands of years, there is a great diversity of varieties of this grain that have managed to adapt to different climates, soils, and pests; of all those varieties, 59 are native to Mexico. As a result, we could make a rainbow, as all colors are represented with the different types of corn available: cream and canary yellow, lilac, purple, greenish or blue-black, and even pinto.
Colored doughs and many flavors
Making the dough with corn grains has a name of Nahuatl origin, “Nixtamal”; in this process, the grains are cooked in a solution of lime and water, then ground until forming a smooth paste that will be our dough ready to become tortillas, antojitos, or tamales.
As we mentioned before, the tortilla is the daily bread of Mexicans, and nothing fills our stomach and heart more than freshly made hand-crafted tortillas, those so soft that they almost melt when bitten, or even going to the tortilla shop on the corner and coming back to eat a warm tortilla with nothing more than a few grains of salt.
It is to be expected that depending on the type of corn used, the flavor, color, and texture of the tortilla change radically, as each grain produces different sensations on our palate, which can help us achieve the perfect taco depending on what we put inside. The most common colors found are white, red, black, blue, and yellow corn.
Generally, we all know the white corn tortilla before any of the others; it is usually opaque, floury, neither too thin nor too thick, and has little brown spots that let us know it is already cooked.
However, the blue corn tortilla is one of the most eye-catching; when you are small, it causes 2 things: either you want to eat it because it looks like playdough or you are afraid to try it because it is different. And although one might think it has colorants upon seeing that bluish-green color, what gives it this color is a pigment called anthocyanins, which are also found in blueberries and raspberries. Apart from the color, the blue tortilla, compared to the white corn one, has the characteristic of having a slightly stronger flavor with light nutty notes.
There is also a variety of tortillas in more colors that have been created by adding different ingredients such as various chiles and even some herbs like cilantro; likewise, the dietary option made from nopal can be found.
Whether white, blue, made from nopal, or even from flour, the tortilla is the perfect complement to the flavors offered by Mexican cuisine or simply to eat with a bit of cheese and salsa in the form of a quesadilla. Easy and quick!
