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Martha's Photo Albums

Gallery: Tortillas - Hot Off The Griddle!

September 4, 2008
Martha has an adventure in Mexico and observes Tortilla making. Read the Original Post

This is Pastora Maas busy at her daily task.
Using a thin piece of plastic and a walnut-sized piece of corn dough, freshly ground by hand with a traditional stone metate and mano, Pastora uses her fingers and the side of her hand to form small, flat rounds of dough, which are laid carefully on the griddle. She makes about five a minute.
The comal is misshapen from years of use but it bakes the tortillas perfectly. The three-stone hearth is typical for a Mayan household.
Lifting the tortillas with her fingers, Pastora makes sure not to overcook the 'daily bread' - once cooked on both sides she stores them warm, in a hollowed out covered gourd.
a better view of the stove
Right down the street, in the same town, is an industrious little tortilla factory, where the majority of the townspeople buy their tortillas every day instead of making them from scratch. About 6 ladies work in the factory - 2 start the process by grinding dried and rehydrated corn kernels into the dough.
A fully automated roller flattens and cuts the corn dough into rounds and slides them onto a very hot electric baking surface, which turns and flips the tortillas. You can imagine how very hot it is near the stoves when it's already 110 degrees on the street!
Here are several kinds of dough all freshly ground from different types of locally grown corn. You can buy any of these doughs, as they are, or you can purchase the tortillas, freshly made and wrapped in brown paper.
Weighing the dough for sale on a very old fashioned scale. I loved the look of this shop - so clean and so colorful.
A better view of the grinding machine - whole softened kernels are put in the top and a pure corn dough emerges from the bottom, having been ground by coarse stones.
This is the sign over the cash register with the name of the shop - The Three Kings!
Unfortunately, the proprietor was rather grumpy - not very happy or friendly - the ladies did not seem to like him very much.

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Martha's Photo Albums
    • Partying in style with Sean 'Diddy' Combs

      Partying in style with Sean 'Diddy' Combs Nov 20, 2009 Read the Original

    • A Puerto Rican Evening

      A Puerto Rican Evening Nov 20, 2009 Read the Original

    • A Pie Contest

      A Pie Contest Nov 18, 2009 Read the Original

    • A tag sale at my offices - Prada, Escada, Ralph Lauren and more

      A tag sale at my offices - Prada, Escada, Ralph Lauren and more Nov 17, 2009 Read the Original

    - see all photo albums -

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