Corn Tortillas: An Easy Recipe and Some Fun Facts About This Mexican Staple

Corn tortillas warm and fresh from the griddle are an easy, delicious, and authentic addition to any Mexican meal. This economical, low-fat, and gluten-free food contains only corn flour, water, and salt, and requires no special skill or equipment, which makes it an easy and healthful addition to your cooking repetoire.  Whether you like them smothered in rice and beans for a tostada, covered in melted cheese for a quesadilla, wrapped around burrito fillings, or just dipped into salsa for a light snack or appetizer, once you’ve learned to make your own corn tortillas from scratch they are sure to show up on your dinner table on a regular basis.  Read on to learn a bit about the origins of this enduring Mexican classic, and discover an easy recipe that can make you a tortilla master.

Corn tortillas were first made by the Aztec people who lived in Meso-America over five hundred years ago.  Corn in its many forms was a staple of the Aztec diet, but archaeological research has revealed that corn was more than just a source of nutrients.  The Aztecs considered corn to be a sacred plant, perhaps in part because it thrived on the relatively infertile land where other vegetables could not survive.  The fact that corn tortillas have endured as a dietary staple for the residents of modern Mexico probably has quite a bit to do with the fact that corn is a strong crop for today’s farmers, just as it was for the Aztec farmers half a century ago.