Ready-made Corn Tortillas

[emsny]

In Manhattan, I can buy 2-lb (or 30-oz) packages of corn tortillas under a number of different labels: La Mexicanita; La Poblanita; things like that. I've never tasted them head-to-head and have no sense of whether there's a notable difference among them. Does anyone have any views on this? (What I DON'T need to hear is how I should be making them from scratch - I know, but I don't use them often enough to make it worthwhile for me to get the hang of this!)

[carp]

I look at the ingredients list. I pretty much want to see corn, lime, salt, lard, and water as the only ingredients.

I also prefer yellow corn tortillas, which are not popular at the supermarkets in my area so I have to go to the Mexican stores.

[Chris Amirault]

Can you do a taste test? Seems like it'd be pretty cheap and I'm sure many New Yorkers on eGullet would appreciate...

Here in RI I buy locally made tortillas and gorditas only in latino/a mercados, and the sole criterion I use is warmth!

[reesek]

i had el ranchito corn tortillas last night, and they were awful. they smelled fishy and ammonia-like. why could that be? the taste was ok - but after a couple of bites, i gave up on them - the smell was killing my carnitas!

[rancho_gordo]

I look at the ingredients list. I pretty much want to see corn, lime, salt, lard, and water as the only ingredients.

I also prefer yellow corn tortillas, which are not popular at the supermarkets in my area so I have to go to the Mexican stores.

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It's very unusual to use lard. There's no need for it. Corn, water, lime should be it.

[carp]

I look at the ingredients list. I pretty much want to see corn, lime, salt, lard, and water as the only ingredients.

I also prefer yellow corn tortillas, which are not popular at the supermarkets in my area so I have to go to the Mexican stores.

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It's very unusual to use lard. There's no need for it. Corn, water, lime should be it.

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You are right, of course. I thought about it after I posted and planned to verify when I got home. Thank you.

Edited January 3, 2005 by carp (log)

[rancho_gordo]

You are right, of course. I thought about it after I posted and planned to verify when I got home. Thank you.

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I think the confusion sometimes comes from flour tortillas, which almost always seem to contain lard, or more often partially hydronated something or other......

[emsny]

Thanks, all. This, of course, is why I ask whether there's any difference: all the brands I see have the same ingredients, and precisely the ones we want to see: corn, water and lime. You're right that I should just be a sport and buy a package of each and taste them head to head. But even though it would be cheap to do, I'd still be faced with six or eight pounds of tortillas. And as much as we love them . . . .

[Toliver]

...You're right that I should just be a sport and buy a package of each and taste them head to head. But even though it would be cheap to do, I'd still be faced with six or eight pounds of tortillas. And as much as we love them . . . .

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With the remnants, you could make tortilla soup or cut them up and fry them into tortilla chips to eat with salsa...

[emsny]

True, Toliver, but not what I had in mind for the next six weeks. Still, I'll probably do it one day and will post when I do.