Ah, you've touched on a subject dear to my heart Bill. I like making corn tortillas but have always used purchased masa harina. Recently I've contemplated doing a three sisters garden which would be based on dent corn. Is your corn dent corn or flint corn? Masa is finely ground hominy. I think dent corn would work best for making hominy.

Let me know at which stage you are in this project so we can discuss it. Have you made tortillas of any kind? Have you only eaten tortillas? Smelled them? Seen a picture? Hahaha.

This interests me. We need to research it. I think there are few people North of the border who have started with corn kernals and made a tortilla.

Jim

Gee, I hope it wasn't my reply that killed this thread. Are you still around, Bill? I was looking forward to some really interesting discourse here.

Jim

OK, I'll bite. I have made my own corn tortillas off and on for some time now, but have always bought the masa. The idea of growing and grinding my own is interesting. I don't even know the difference between dent corn and flint corn however, need to read up.

While we're on the subject though, I am interested in grinding ANY of my own grains. Can I grow and grind my own wheat? How much would it take to make a pound of flour?

Self suufficiency .. it's an ever expanding proposition for some of us, isn't it?

Yesterday I did some Googling on grain mills. I discovered that there has been considerable development in the home grain mill technology since the last time I investigated it. It's pretty interesting.

There are two old windmills near where I live which are maintained by volunteers who occasionally run them as a demonstration. For a while I thought it might be possible to do a cooperative thing with them where I grew corn in a three sisters demonstration garden and they milled it. After reading up on milling, this seems a more ambitious project than I thought.

Jim

I beleive the process to make the hominy requires lye. I kinda looked into this when I bought a tortilla press a couple of mothes ago. We make whole wheat tortillas from scratch, much less complicated.

You've jogged my memory. Now I realize that a grain mill is not what's needed for making masa. Masa is made by pulverizing hominy. The traditional tools for this are the mano and metate, made of stone. I suppose the modern equivalent would be a food processor.

Jim

One of the joys of living in a Hispanic neighborhood - multiple times a day, a local business drops off still warm corn tortillas at the local Cub gracery store. Hmmmmmm

In central America they use lime to cook the corn to make nixtamal (hominy). Here is a site with a picture of a metate (grinding stone), and from this site you can link to a description of how to make nixtamal. It says you can also use a hand-crank grinder.

I have read some Mayan literature, and the women describe waking up at 3 a.m. to grind the nixtamal and have the tortillas ready for everyone by 5, so as you would expect it takes a long time to grind by hand. It seems like it would be really satisfying to do it yourself though.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: Corn grinding info and products

Melissa,

Muchas gracias for the link. It's the most interesting one I've found recently and it will provide a lot of good reading. They have an incredible assortment of Mexican cooking implements and a huge amount of information to go with it. BTW, they sell the slaked lime for making hominy (kind of expensive at $5.00/lb.) as well as a grinder made in Columbia especially designed for corn. Most of what they sell is reasonable priced.

On one of my trips to Mexico, I returned with heavy baggage, having purchased a stone molcajete, tejalote and cast iron tortilla press. I still need several items sold on that site.

Your description of Mexican women starting breakfast at 3:00 AM so the men can set off to work (often at a distant location) at 5:00 puts the lie to the "lazy Mexican" myth. The siesta is a much needed rest in the middle of a work day which lasts from early morning to late evening.

I can't resist bragging that I have an Indian mano found by my grandparents in the early days of their farming in Western New York, along with many arrowheads. An indigenous people's mano (I don't know the English or Iroqouis name) is not as rare as you might think, because many were needed, but I am probably the only kid on my block that has one.

Thanks again, Melissa. Hugs.

Suzyq2,

I envy you. The tortilla situation here is ridiculous. There are tons of wheat flour tortillas, which are very good for burritos, but nothing else I can think of (well, OK, rollup sandwiches). The stores now seem to carry no corn tortillas, as dense and poor as they are when available. To get a decent one, you have to make it.

Jim

Jim, that is neat. I don't know what a mano is called in English...I've seen pictures of stick-like ones similar to pestles, or round ones to fit in the palm of a hand, and ones with two tapered ends like a French rolling pin.

In Virginia hominy can be bought canned or dried in the Goya brand section (where beans cost more than store brand and other name brands). I like hominy in white chili, but since it has no fiber I usually use corn instead.

Jim, I admire the breadth of your homemaking ventures. Someday I hope to work from home and have a cow to do some dairying. Starting this summer I'll be working "compressed nines" which means I have every other Friday off. Those Fridays shall be canning days, overflowing into the weekends I'm sure.

Prairie love (Ann?), grinding your own flour is popular with disaster-expecting people who keep bins of wheat in the basement, and anyone who's willing to put in a bit of work to get fresh flour. Below is a link that says fresh-ground flour is about 140% of the original wheat berry volume...should be 1 lb whole grains to 1 lb flour. Maybe someone on the homesteading forum could help you with growing one family's worth of wheat. I could totally get into homesteading as long as I'd still get to use the internet.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: choosing a grinder

Jim/Bill - Big kudos to you for making them. And once they are made, what will you use them for (i.e. recipies)?

After reading this thread, I had to run down to the store and pick up a (still warm) batch. Always a danger of the Harvest forum. I'm pretty uneducated on the topic, but there are two types of freshly made corn tortillas for sale - a darker yellow and a lighter yellow. Is there a difference in serving use or is it just preferred taste?

I use tortillas in several ways:

As a meal accompaniment like bread. It's nice to have one of those shallow baskets made for the purpose to keep them warm, covered by a napkin.

For a taco, just rolled up around a shredded meat and salsa filling.

For making enchiladas, which I love.

In chilaquiles (a casserole sort of like a Mexican lasagna or a rustic form of enchiladas).

Making your own tortillas is not complicated, but it takes a bit of a knack. I've seen Mexican women pat them out between their palms. Masa is a soft and tender dough. No gluten or stretchability at all. I can't form a tortilla by hand, even after several years of working with clay in the pottery studio. I have to use a tortilla press or improvised substitute. Bakeries use automated machinery. The critical part is the temperature of the comal (griddle) and timing the baking. When done well, they puff like pita bread, making a pocket inside. You help that along by "tickling" them, touching them with your finger tips, which presses them against the hot comal, creating a burst of steam inside. Are the ones you get solid or hollow? Commercial ones I have had usually were solid and not tender like tortillas casero (homemade), but are better than no tortillas at all. Good ones have just the right amount of charred spots, which gives a wonderful flavor and aroma. And I mean *wonderful aroma*. Driving through Mexican villages at a certain time of evening, the whole place smells of corn tortillas baking. I'm starting to salivate. So much goodness from two ingredients, masa and water.

Yellow or white corn tortillas? I go for the white, but I can't give you a clear reason except that I think it is most typically Mexican.

Jim

Something is nagging me and I think it's my so-called Spanish and the gender of that word "casero". I'm such a show-off and my Spanish is strictly survival level. It probably should be casera, to match with tortilla, which probably should result in tortillas caseras. In fact, I'm not sure. Someone help me. Mexicans are very tolerant of my attempts at speaking their language. That's nice, because it's fun to try.

Jim

Hecho a mano/en casa ;-) This thread has been a good lesson for me. I live in a very Hispanic part of town and we have some excellent truly Mexican restaurants very nearby. I checked out the package of tortillas I purchase and it turns out the tortilleria is about 2 miles from my house - I think I'll pay them a visit the weekend.

I was pretty sure there had to be more creative things to do with them other than melting cheese & dipping them in salsa. Or baking them into chips :-)

I asked about the corn, because when I am in CA all I see is flour. Wondered if they were used interchangably.

It bothers me that Bill, the initiator of this thread, disappeared so quickly. I feel he was put off by the flippancy in my reply. Feeling quilty.

Jim