Originally posted by Marla Daily
TORTILLA = "Little cake"
Torta=cake, plus the diminutive -illa.
ORIGIN: The traditional tortilla has been made of corn or maize since
Pre-Columbian times. Their origin is generally credited to the Aztec in Mexico.
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The Spanish word, tortilla, takes different forms in different countries. The
Mexican form is the most well-known in North America. In Panama, a tortilla resembles a hockey puck in form and density. In Spain and South America a
tortilla is a round, layered omlette, unfolded.
It is made by curing maize in lime water in a process known as nixtamalization
which causes the skin of the corn kernels to peel off (the waste material is typically
fed to poultry), then grinding and pre-cooking it, kneading it into a dough called masa nixtamalera, pressing it flat into thin patties, and cooking
it on a very hot
comal (originally a flat terra cotta griddle, now usually made instead of light sheet-metal). Soaking the maize in lime water is important because it
liberates the vitamin niacin and the amino acid tryptophan. When maize was brought back to Europe, Africa and Asia from the New World, people left out
this crucial step. People whose diet consisted mostly of corn meal often became sick, because of the lack of niacin and tryptophan, with the disease
pellagra, which was common in Spain, Northern Italy and the southern United States.
RECIPE: 4 Cups flour; 1/2 Cup shortening; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 Cup warm water
[Wikipedia] |
