Tortillas

doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-384947-2.00697-8

Reference Module in Food Science

Encyclopedia of Food and Health

2016, Pages 319-325

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-384947-2.00697-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

Maize and wheat tortillas are considered staple foods for the inhabitants of Mexico and Central America. Maize tortillas were inherited from the Aztecs, whereas wheat tortillas were first produced after the arrival of the Spaniards who brought wheat to Mexico. The traditional method to process maize into tortillas consists of cooking maize kernels in an alkaline (calcium hydroxide) solution followed by stone grinding to produce masa, sheeting and forming it into thin disks, and then baking into tortillas. The ancient nixtamalization process is nowadays adapted to high processing manufacturing procedures aimed toward the production of fresh and dry masa flours widely used throughout the globe for manufacturing table tortillas, corn chips, and tortillas chips. Wheat tortillas are produced from refined or whole flours, which are mixed with water, shortening or lard, salt, baking powder, and other ingredients to yield a gluten-developed dough that is divided into balls and formed into flat disks. The disks are baked on both sides to yield tortillas. Both corn and wheat flour tortillas are mainly used as wraps to produce tacos, burritos, and related products and greatly influence the nutritional status of their consumers.

Keywords

Corn chips

Die cut

Dry masa flour

Hand stretch

Hot press

Lime

Maize tortillas

Nixtamalization

Tacos

Tortilla chips

Wheat tortillas

Sergio O. Serna-Saldivar is professor of the Biotechnology and Food Engineering Department and head of CIDPRO at Tecnológico de Monterrey. Prior to this, he was research scientist at the Soil and Crop Science Department at Texas A&M University, was a consultant for EMBRAPA at Río de Janeiro, Brazil, and was an associate professor for the University of Sonora. He has been a member of the American Association of Cereal Chemists for over 25 years and the Institute of Food Technologists and has acted as associate editor for the journals of Cereal Chemistry and Cereal Science. He was a member of the AACC International Board of Directors. He received his BS in animal science/agricultural engineering from ITESM and his MSc and PhD degrees in scientific nutrition and food science and technology from Texas A&M University. He has published 7 books, 29 chapters, 130 referred journal articles, and 8 encyclopedia articles and is inventor of two patents and codeveloper of the wheat variety TAM-202. He has directed 60 MSc and 11 PhD students. His research interests focus on biotechnology of cereal grains, isolation of phytochemicals to prevent and treat chronic diseases and cancer, and the development of novel vegetable proteins. He belongs to the maximum category of the Mexican National Research System and the Mexican Academy of Sciences. In addition, he was awarded the Luis Elizondo Award in Agricultural and Food Industries, the 2004 AACC Excellence in Teaching Award, the Agrobio National Award in 2013, and six times the Teaching and Research Award at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Cristina Chuck-Hernández holds a PhD in biotechnology. She works as project coordinator in the Research Center for Protein Development (CIDPRO), a joint effort among private investors and Biotechnology Center FEMSA-Tecnológico de Monterrey. She received her BS in food engineering and MSc in biotechnology from Tecnológico de Monterrey. Her master's degree in finance was obtained in Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.

Her work experience includes technical support in Grupo Panificador Azteca (1999–2000), biology professor in Tecnológico de Monterrey Virtual University (2010), and consultant for food industry (Ingeniería en Alimentos IDEA, S.A. de C.V., 2000–07). As consultant, she participated in more than 49 projects, all related with food plant design, implementation of food safety systems, and food production.

As a researcher, she has published nine scientific articles, two book chapters, and two articles in nonindexed journals among dozens of oral and poster presentations in national and international conferences. She has been intern at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria (2012), and volunteer in the Food and Agriculture Organization Office in Mexico. Her interest topics are the extraction and use of proteins in food, biofuels, maize, and sorghum production and the impact of plagues in cereal productivity.