ABSTRACT
Lime-cooking or nixtamalization consists of cooking maize kernels in a calcium hydroxide solution followed by stonegrinding to produce masa, which is considered the backbone for the production of many industrial and traditional foods. For table tortillas, the masa is sheeted and formed into thin discs and then baked. Soft tortillas are still the main staple for Mexicans and Central Americans. An average Mexican consumes more than 80 kg of maize tortillas annually. For corn chips (refer to Chapter 12), the masa is formed into different configurations and the resulting pieces directly deep fat-fried, whereas tortilla chips are manufactured from pieces of baked tortillas that are fried. Taco shells are the American version of tostadas, with the only difference that they are usually fried bent. Latin Americans living in the southwestern states first introduced tortilla products into the United States in the middle of the 20th century. The rapid and exponential growth of the production and sales of limecooked snacks took place mainly during the last two decades of the 20th century. Tortillas represent 30% of all baked product sales in the United States and continue being the most popular food in Mexico. Approximately 120 million tortillas are consumed yearly in the United States, making this the second most popular baked product, after white bread.
