History of Tortillas and How to Use Them
The word “tortillas” comes from the Spanish word “torta” which means round cake. Tortillas are very popular in America as well as Mexico. Americans like to be creative with their tortilla fillings and will eat them with apples and brown sugar or beans and meat or even peanut butter and jelly. Tortillas can also be used instead of bread, to make a kind of sandwich, for casseroles and as a wrap for hot dogs. You can do many things with them and you can even make your own homemade tortillas.
Tortillas have been enjoyed for many centuries, but not with all the fillings that are used these days.
Tortilla history tells us that the Aztecs were making flour tortillas over 10,000 years before Christ. They ate a lot of corn, either direct from the cob or used as an ingredient in another recipe. The Aztecs would grind the corn into cornmeal and make corn dough, or masa, out of it. This was done by mixing the cornmeal with water, which had to be exactly the right temperature; else, it would be the wrong consistency to make a dough. When the masa was ready, the Aztecs would shape it into a ball and then flatten it into a type of thick pancake. When it was the right size and thickness, the masa dough would have been placed on a hot griddle and cooked quickly.
The tortillas of today are still made with the same ingredients as in tortilla history. Because they are very popular, most tortillas today are made in factories with machinery. They come in a lot of different flavors and you can also make homemade tortillas quite easily. A lot of Mexican foods use tortillas as an ingredient. Tacos, for example, use flour tortillas as the shell. With an enchilada, the tortilla is filled, then rolled up, and cooked. Tortillas are used as turnovers to make quesadillas, which are filled before being fried.
Tortillas are not just for eating. “Tortilla art” is when tortillas are used as a canvas. They are baked and then covered in acrylic, before they are painted. The culture of Latino artists is represented by tortilla art so this is an important part of tortilla history.
Tortilla chips are made from flour tortillas. The tortilla is cut into wedges and these wedges are fried. Corn tortillas are made from vegetable oil, corn, water, and salt. These chips became popular in Los Angeles, California, in the 1940s because they were mass-produced there, but they are still thought of as a Mexican food.
Americans like to use tortillas in a lot of different foods and recipes. Tortillas are used in burritos, which originated in northern Mexico. Native Mexican tribes in the southwestern United States and people from the northern states of Mexico enjoy tortillas as a staple food. A lot of Mexican and non-Mexican restaurants have tortillas on the menu or use them as an ingredient in their dishes. You can buy them at the grocery store and even make homemade tortillas.
There are many different recipes available to search, so join in on a tasty convenient food that many Americans have already discovered.