Tortillas: Wheat Flour and Corn Products

8 Y CHAPTER 1 middle of the sixteenth century, corn was established in Angola, and it reached France, Italy, and Turkey in the middle of the eighteenth century.

From Turkey, it rapidly spread to east Africa, all the way south to Madagascar. The Spaniards began the Asian connection because they traded goods from Acapulco, Mexico, to Manila, Philippines. This occurred as early as 1565, but corn became important in Asia after the seventeenth century (Celis 1989, García 1989).

Today corn is the most important cereal and most productive crop in the world. Its yearly production, estimated at 1,016 million metric tons in 2013 (FAO 2014), surpasses wheat and paddy rice by 303 and 271 million metric tons, respectively. The success is due to its adaptation to different ecosystems and the development of high-­producing regular and genetically modified hybrids capable of yielding up to 16 t/ha under commercial conditions.

Wood Ashes and Lime According to Katz et al (1974), out of 51 ancient American societies located between 47°N and 43°S where it was feasible to cultivate corn, 73% planted the crop and the rest depended on hunting, gathering, or fishing. About one-­ third of these cultures depended heavily on corn, and 41 used alkali cooking with soda, lye, wood ashes, or lime. Interestingly, for all Mexican and Central American cultures except the Mosquito culture, corn was the major crop, and most of their traditional foods were alkali-­cooked. Wood ashes were probably the first source of alkali utilized to cook corn. The mixture of alkaline salts softened the grain and hydrolyzed the fiber-­rich pericarp; therefore, this was a way to chemically release the bran. Ashes were also a good source of needed potassium, magnesium, calcium, and other essential minerals. Some Mesoamerican cultures utilized limestone (tenextli = lime and tetl = stone) instead of ashes, probably because limestone was available in the region and imparted a better flavor. There is evidence that lime-­cooking was already in use by 100 B.C.E. at Teotihuacan. The Mendocino Codex, tax sheet 22, made to list the dominated towns located in the neighboring state of Puebla, clearly indicates that one of the tributes consisted of 4,000 loads (Fig. 1.1) of limestone (Bernal and León Portilla 1974). Katz et al (1974) documented that the Mayans, after eating fresh water mussels, burned the shells into ashes that were used as a source of alkali.

Corn Gods and Related Ceremonials Since remote times, the rhythms of life in Mesoamerican cultures have been deeply embedded in religion and corn-­related ceremonies. The Mayans deified a god of corn and vegetation called Yum Kaax (Table 1.1, Fig. 1.2) (León Portilla 1974, Trejo Gonzalez et al 1982). Their sacred Popul Vuh related the origin of men to corn: Fig. 1.2. Wood carving depict-

ing Yum Kaax, the Mayan god of corn.

They then proceeded to discuss the creation and formation of our first father and mother. Their flesh was made from yellow and white corn; the arms and legs from the man were made from masa. Only masa was used to create our fathers, the four men that were created.

History of Corn and Wheat Tortillas Y 9

In the southwestern United States, corn was also a central ingredient in food, traditional religion, and festivities (Katz et al 1974). According to the legend, different corns were assigned to different cultures: Yappa, the Mockingbird placed many different kinds of corn before the tribes. The Navajo took yellow ears, the Sioux white, Havasupai red, Ute flint and Apache the longest ears. Hopis picked up the last and smallest ear, the blue corn.

Hopis used blue corn in several of their ceremonies as the symbolic representation of life. All children received their name from their paternal aunts in a ceremony where a perfect ear of corn was passed four times over a 20-­day-­old baby while it was fed a holy blue corn mash (Rhoades 1993).

To the Aztecs, their close dependence on nature was of profound significance and was affirmed through the calendar of cyclic festivals performed at a network of sacred places. The regularity of the seasons, land productivity, and fertility were ensured by means of traditional rituals. Corn was portrayed in feminine terms, and three Aztec goddesses were worshipped: Xilonen, Chicomecoatl, and Centeotl (Table 1.1). The Codex Borbonicus depicts two

10  Y  CHAPTER 1 female divinities connected to the cycle of corn holding multicolored ears and wearing other ears as emblems in their headdresses. These goddesses appeared in a sequence of three festivals (Sahagun 1989): Huey Tozoztli, Huey Tecuilhuitl, and Ochpaniztli (Table 1.2).

History of Corn and Wheat Tortillas  Y  11

Indigenous Alkali-­Cooked Corn Products For the Mesoamerican cultures, corn was the universal staple, the basis of the economy, and the key to development. The combination of corn with many other indigenous plants generated immensely varied foods and dishes that are still used in modern cuisine (Townsend 1995). Corn was traditionally processed (Fig. 1.3) by cooking and steeping the kernels with lime or wood ashes, discarding the cooking liquor or nejayotl (from tenextli = lime and ayotl = broth), and rubbing the resulting soft nixtamalli (from the Nahuatl words nixtli = ashes and tamalli = dough) between the hands to remove the bran. The washed product, nixtamal, was hand ground with a cylindrical stone and a metatl or flat stone slab (Fig. 1.3B). The resulting masa, called tamalli and yokem by the Aztecs and Mayans, respectively, was the backbone for the production of many staple foods.

Fig. 1.3. Key steps in the traditional process for making corn tortillas. A, cooking of corn to obtain nixtamal. B, grinding nixtamal into a masa on a metate. C, baking of corn tortillas on a clay griddle over a wood fire. D, corn tortillas and related dishes.

12 Y CHAPTER 1

YYTortillas

Pieces of masa, called textli, were patted into thin round disks that were baked onto a hot circular clay surface named comalli to produce tortillas (Fig. 1.3C). Their diameter was regularly about eight fingers, and the thickness varied. Some tortillas were as thin as paper. For nobles, tortillas were produced from red kernels ground with a beautiful linseed flower and some other medical herbs or roots (caotzontecoxichitl). Tortillas consumed daily by nobles were named totanquil tlaxcalli (meaning folded-­hot tortillas), hueitlaxcalli (white, soft-­textured, and thin tortillas), and cuauhtlacualli (white, large, and thick tortillas). Tlacepoalli tlaxcalli were delicious tortillas prepared from multilayered masa; elotlaxcalli were made from tender corn; and iztac tlaxcalli etica tlaoyo were prepared from white corn and beans (León Portilla 1972, Barros and Buenrostro 2002). This flat bread was preferred over the best wheat bread (Clavigero 1945). Tortillas were named tlaxcalli by the Aztecs and cauhimich by the Mayans. Women almost exclusively performed the tortilla making as well as the production of most foods. They manufactured food products for their families and for merchandising in the markets (tiantiztli) (Clavigero 1945). According to Long (1996), women dedicated 35–40 h per week to making tortillas and other food products.

Other prehispanic types of tortillas are known as tlacoyos or tlatloyos (from the Náhuatl tlahtlaoyoh) and tlayudas. Tlacoyos consist of thick, oval-­ shaped tortillas prepared from a mixture of masa and cooked smashed beans and usually accompanied by cactus, cheese, peppers, onions, and other vegetables (Table 1.3). Tlayudas are widely consumed by the indigenous people inhabiting Oaxaca, Mexico. The main features of this tortilla are the large diameter (more than 40 cm), the different taste due to addition of salt, and the distinct texture due to overbaking to produce a semitoasted product (Serna Saldivar 2013). The prepared tacos (Table 1.3) that are the emblem of the current Mexican cuisine were named tlataololli by the Aztecs. The Aztecs also produced totopochtli, an ancient prototype of free-­fat tortilla chips, by toasting tortillas on a comal (a flat griddle). This product had an increased shelf life and was carried as food by travelers or during wars (Orozco and Berra 1960, Barros and Buenrostro 2002).

In the southwestern United States, blue corn has been traditionally used to prepare piki, a corn or paper bread, prepared by stirring corn meal, water, and a pinch of wood ashes into a thin gruel. Then in a small house especially built for its production, the women spread the mixture on a heated smooth slab of stone that has been oiled with crushed seeds of squash. The batter bakes into a parchment-­like layer of about 18 in. in length, which is peeled from the rock, folded, and consumed. The pigmented food is blue when alkaline and red or pink when acid or fermented (Weatherwax 1954).

YYTamales

The nixtamalized dough filled with meat or other prepared fillings was also wrapped in hydrated corn husks and cooked to produce tamales. The Mayans and tropical cultures wrapped their tamales in banana leaves or produced unwrapped patties called kool (Chavero 1962). A special clay cooking pot (comitalli), the bottom of which had a griddle where water was placed,

History of Corn and Wheat Tortillas Y 13

14 Y CHAPTER 1

History of Corn and Wheat Tortillas Y 15