Tortillas (Most Memorable Experience)

[skilletlicker]

Suzanne wrote in Your Most Memorable Food Experience:
Now, I've had freshly made tortillas before. But I've never tasted tortillas that carried such a clear connection to corn, to the earth it grew in, to the people who made the tortillas, and to their ancestors who had been making them for hundreds if not thousands of years, as that time.

What color were they? What variety of corn was it? Any other ingredients than water, corn and lime? Any other details you can recall?
I've been eating tortillas all my life, but until a few years ago they were just what you ate instead of bread with Mexican food. Then a place I'd been going to once a week for a couple years suddenly started serving a yellow corn tortilla that changed my whole outlook. It tasted more like corn than any tortilla I'd ever eaten but it was more than just that. The best way I can describe it is, it was like the difference between the cheapest ice milk and the best ice cream I'd ever tasted.
Sadly, after about a month, they switched back to whatever it was before and I haven't tasted anything as good since. Although we knew the waitress fairly well, she couldn't or wouldn't tell me what the difference was.
I often make my own tortillas either from masa harina or fresh masa made locally and sold at my neighborhood mexican market. They're good, but don't come close to that memory.
I started a new thread in hopes of answers to any or all of the following:
1. Who has experience experience making their own nixtamal and grinding their own masa?
2. What corn varieties do you use and where do you get it.
3. Has anybody tried grinding the nixtamal in a Kitchenaid stand mixer food grinder attachment?
4. How long can you hold the masa in the fridge?
5. If you freeze the masa how is the tortilla quality affected?
6. What is the freezer life?

[Suzanne]

Gee, I had no idea I'd set off such a flood of memories!

I'm such a tortilla neophyte (here in NYC we are just finally getting decent Mexican foods) -- I didn't think to ask about corn, etc. The fresh ones at the Luna factory were white corn; chips were made from yellow corn tortillas. Beyond that, Sorry.

But you might want to look at the Rick Bayless forum to see if he said anything on the subject. I'm sure there must be something about it in at least one of his books.

[Stewey]

I consider myself to be very fortunate to have grown up in a home where my mother's tortillas were made almost daily. from the time she was a child of 8 or 9, she made tortillas for the migrant workers who worked in the produce fields in CA. I have tried for years to get close to how light and flavorful her tortillas were. And although mine are finally in the ball park, they are still completely distinct. I write this because it is extremely hard to find flavorful tortillas in restaurants. You may need to make some good connections into the latino community to find either the best tortillas or the right ingredients that you are looking for. Store owners, latino chamber of commerce (if your area has one), and even some local spanish teachers (in high school or college) will be a great place to start.

On a side note, the tortillas my mom made were flour, but I promise you that you would be amazed at how flavorful even flour tortillas can get if done just right.

[skilletlicker]

rurias1said:
I consider myself to be very fortunate to have grown up in a home where my mother's tortillas were made almost daily. ... I have tried for years to get close to how light and flavorful her tortillas were. And although mine are finally in the ball park, they are still completely distinct. ...
On a side note, the tortillas my mom made were flour, but I promise you that you would be amazed at how flavorful even flour tortillas can get if done just right.

Any chance you'd share your family secrets here?