Tortilleria facts for kids
A tortilleria (say: tor-tee-yeh-REE-ah) is a special shop where people make and sell fresh tortillas. You can think of it as a "tortilla bakery." These shops are very common in Mexico and Central America. You can also find some of them in parts of the United States. Tortillerias usually sell corn tortillas by how much they weigh.
The main ingredient for tortillas is a dough called masa. The recipe for masa is very old! It uses corn that has been soaked and cooked with something called slaked lime and water. This process makes the corn easier to grind and more nutritious.
How Tortillas Are Made
Tortillerias make tortillas in a few different ways.
- Some shops buy masa dough that is already made. They then just shape and cook it into tortillas.
- Other tortillerias make their own masa dough from a special dried corn flour called masa harina.
- A few still use the very old, traditional method. This involves soaking and cooking whole corn kernels with lime to make the masa from scratch.
Changes in Tortilla Prices
For many years, from 1974 to 1999, the Mexican government helped keep the price of corn low. This was done through something called a subsidy. A subsidy is like a helping hand from the government to keep prices down. The government also put a limit on how much tortillerias could charge for tortillas.
When these subsidies and price limits ended, tortillerias had to change how they did business. Some owners thought it was a good chance to earn more money and keep their shops open. But others worried that higher tortilla prices would make it harder for families with less money to buy this important food.
Before the subsidies ended, many local tortillerias bought their fresh masa dough from big mills. This was because the government sent the cheap corn directly to these mills. After the subsidies stopped, dried masa harina became more popular. It was easier to get, and it also stays fresh for much longer than prepared masa dough. Companies like Maseca even helped tortillerias buy new machines to work with masa harina.
