TORTILLA-
TORTILLA CHIPS
1.- Tortilla -
General Information
Tortilla is the most important corn food in Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, and Colombia. In Mexico, nearly 52% of the corn is used for human food, mainly in the form of nixtamalized (lime-cooked) products. In particular, the lower socioeconomics groups depend on tortillas as the main source of calories and protein.
The
technology for tortilla production has been transmitted from generation to
generation in Mesoamerica. In Central America and Mexico, many tortillas are
still made by the ancient Aztec technology. In the traditional tortilla
preparation, corn is lime-cooked in pots over a fire and steeped, to form the
nixtamal. The nixtamal is washed by hand or with mechanical washers to remove
the skin, or pericarp, and then ground on a stone grinder (called
"metate") to form the masa. Small portion of masa are formed by hand
into a flat cake, which is baked on a flat stone used as a griddle, called
comal. The resulting tortillas are round flat products, of about 20 cm in
diameter. Recent tortilla production technologies include modern machinery, for
less labour and continuous processing, but the same principles are still
followed.
Production
begins with the alkaline cooking of good quality whole corn, for up to 3 hours
at 80 to 100ºC with frequent stirring. Corn is cooked in 120 – 300% excess
water containing 0.1- 2.0% hydrated lime. After cooking, the corn is steeped
for 8 to 16 hours (usually overnight).
After steeping,
the nixtamal and steeping liquor are transferred to mechanical washers or
washed by hands. Most commercial washers are rotating barrels or drums that
rinse the nixtamal with pressurized water. Pericarp and excess lime are washed
away form the nixtamal.
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