While re-learning how to make tortillas from scratch, I went looking for all the ingredients.
They are spread out all over the Twin Cities. Prices vary from place to place.
I had an idea. Buy some prepared masa for tortillas, so I could gauge how good or bad I was doing.
The problem: there are no places that sell prepared masa for corn tortillas. When I asked one vendor she remarked, “People prefer to buy maseca.” They do? Maseca is to corn tortillas, what Bisquick is to pancakes.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend Ken, who was talking to me about how the supply (or lack of supply) of certain cultural ingredients can limit or expand the amount of food made by a certain culture and/or can affect .
For example, ramen or tortillas or masa or even a certain fruit (like avocados). The unavailability can affect how we cook, and the way cooks have to adapt. Also, a food item can become elite or exotic because of its unavailability, thus changing access to a food source that was cheap in the homeland and now becomes expensive in the new homeland.
I need to stew and brew more on this.
You can get excellent prepared masa at Marissa’s Supermercado, located on Nicollet Avenue and 28th Street.
Ellen, Thanks. I went there from an earlier recommendation, but it look like their masa was filled with preservatives. I found the nixtamal on Lake St & Bloomington and ground it myself. That is my struggle with corn tortillas in the Twin Cities – every company uses preservatives in their tortillas. In Chicago, I used to buy El Milagro Masa. No preservatives. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENT!