|
The first Mexican
tortilla-making machine was invented and installed by Everardo Rodriguez
Arce and his associate, Luis Romero, in 1904. In 1905, Ramon Benitez
manufactured the first device for practical use. In 1910 Luis Romero
marked another step in the manufacture of tortillas with his machine
with rollers, wires to remove the tortilla and moulds. In 1915, the “La
India S.A.” company incorporated continuous tortilla baking using a wood
or coal heated vertical cylindrical oven, with a rotary circular cover
where the tortillas were tossed or removed. In 1920 C. Celorio and A.S.
Olague incorporated a belt into the machine that ran through a tunnel
with gas burners distributed along its length. This was the first time
that gas was used. In 1921 Luis Romero’s electrically-activated and oil-heated
tubular machine saw the light. In 1947 Fausto Celorio invented the first
automatic machine to mechanically reproduce traditional tortilla baking.
This was a roller machine that moulded the tortilla, using wires to
remove them, but the invention had temperature control problems so a
considerable amount of product was wasted.
In 1959 Fausto Celorio invented and launched onto the market a piped gas
driven machine with extrusion system and flat frame. In 1963 Fausto
Celorio carried out several improvements to the machine, above all to
the frame, transforming it into gas conductor, and the first duplex
machine appeared on the market, producing 132 kilos of tortillas per
hour. In 1975 Fausto Celorio invented the new Celorio machine known as
low calorie. The simple model produced 100 kg of tortillas per hour and
the duplex model produced 200 kg of tortillas per hour. This model, as
its name indicates, considerably reduced the gas consumption, ensuring
that with this system it used 50% less gas than any other machine that
existed on the market.
In 1995, in view of the market need to produce an intermediate machine
between the simple and the duplex machine, Fausto Celorio invented and
launched onto the market a machine that produced 131 kg. of tortillas
per hour, the 100-K machine. In 1996, improvements were incorporated
into the headpiece of machine models 70-K, 100-K, 130-K, shafts were
reinforced as well as other parts that enabled working with either corn
meal or nixtamalised dough or a mixture of the two without any special
adaptation.
In 1998, the Celorio company launched the innovative automatic
electronic ignition system onto the market, which did not require the
use of a lighter to ignite the machine. New covers were also placed on
the oven to further reduce gas consumption. In 2001, the Celorio company
invented and launched its new tortilla-making machine model, the compact
EH-1800, onto the world market. This machine incorporates a
revolutionary horizontal extrusion system and a shorter frame; it
reduces the consumption of refractions and the consumption of gas.
A curious fact is that the first tortillas produced by the machine were
square-shaped, an ideal shape, according to the inventor, because it was
perfect for tacos, but due to the deeply-rooted tradition of their
circular shape, a special device had to be adapted. |
|
Mexican Tortillas
Meet
the Machine Age:
| |
|
|
 |
|
Like shoes in a
modern factory, the tortillas pour from the ovens on a conveyor. |
| |
|
|
By Jack B.
Kemmerer
The pre-Cortes inhabitants of Mexico invented the famous
tortillas of that country between 2000 and 1000 B.C., when most
historians agree that corn began to be cultivated in Guatemala
and in southern Mexico.
The ancient method of making tortillas by hand had never changed
until recently. Now, the tortilla has met the machine age.
The El Zarape Tortilla Factory in Los Angeles uses an automatic
machine that has reduced the production cost of tortillas by 30
percent. The dough is put in one end of the machine and a
perfectly cooked, ready-to-eat tortilla comes out at the other
end. This machine has made more than six million tortillas in
the last three years. An expert can make about eight dozen
tortillas per hour by hand while the machine makes 100 dozen.
|
|
 |
| |
The corn, the raw
material for tortillas, is ground
in this mill to make the “nixtamal”. |
| |
|
|
 |
|
These are the grindstones called “canteras”.
They are porous and are water-cooled. |
| |
 |
|
After grinding, the corn is kneaded. |
|
|
Although the methods of making and cooking have changed,
the tortilla is the same. Corn, powdered lime and water
were used more than 3000 years ago. These same
ingredients are used today.
The dried corn and lime are cooked slowly for several
hours to soften the hull of the corn. After cooking, the
grain sets overnight and is ground the following morning.
Grinding is done by a machine that uses two rotating
porous stones. These stones, called “canteras” are only
found in Mexico. A stream of cool water flows over the
stones during the grinding. The water goes through the
porous stones, keeping them cool and at the same time
adds the required amount of water to the dough or
“nixtamal”. If the stones were to get hot during the
grinding, the corn would be overcooked.
After grinding, the “nixtamal” is rinsed to remove part
of the hull, the remainder is left in the dough to add
body to the finished tortilla. The “nixtamal” is then
kneaded into a stiff dough in a mixer. It is then ready
for the tortilla machine.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Placed in cutter, coming out tortilla-shaped |
|
Close-up
of the cutter. The disc rotates against the front roller,
cutting one tortilla in each turn. |
|
| |
|
 |
|
From the cutter,
the tortillas are carried through three gas ovens for baking.
The complete machine is shown in this photo. |
| |
|
The
dough, placed in the hopper of the machine, is rolled
flat by two bronze rollers. These rollers are adjustable
and the dough may be rolled to any thickness.
The cutter, which is a curved disc located below the
rollers, rotates against the front roller and cuts a
tortilla with each turn. After being cut, the tortillas
are taken on a canvas belt to the first oven.
The three gas ovens are located one above the other.
Each oven has an endless asbestos belt that carries the
tortilla through it. |
|
 |
| |
After they
have cooled, the tortillas are carefully wrapped in
waxed paper for delivery. |
| |
|
|
As the
tortilla leaves the first oven it turns over and falls to the
oven below. From there it goes to the third oven, from where it
falls onto a canvas belt that removes it from the machine. This
entire operation takes just sixty seconds.
As the tortillas leave the machine they are puffed up to about
three times their normal size. When cool they resume their
normal thickness. When this time comes, the tortillas are
wrapped in waxed paper, ready for delivery.
The tortilla is rather stiff which is advantageous, because it
is also used as an eating utensil. Tortillas are used as plates
for salads, “moles” and meat, a practical application as the
utensils are then eaten at the same time as the food they
contain. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
Chronology |
| |
|
The flour
tortilla celebrated its 462nd anniversary in 2004.
- 1542 The conquistadors introduce the wheat seed and as they
cannot find the necessary ingredients to make bread, Spaniards
living in Sonora start to manufacture the “zaruki” a mixture of
broken wheat with water, which later became the flour tortilla.
- 1849 A dish prepared with flour tortilla and filled with meat
appears in the northern states of Mexico and Texas, which would
later receive the name of “burritos”.
- 1947 Ramona Bañuelos, from Jalisco, founds La Tapatia, in San
Antonio, Texas, the first brand of flour tortillas in the United
States. They were prepared by hand. In the 1970s she became
treasurer of that country.
- 1972 VIllamex registered the first patent for the machine to
make industrialised wheat tortillas.
- 1978 Bimbo launches the brand Tía Rosa onto the market.
- 1983 Self-service shops in the country start to sell flour
tortillas produced at their own facilities.
- 1983 The flour tortilla reaches Europe; England is the landing
area.
- 1984 The president, Miguel de la Madrid, refuses subsidies to
produce the soy-enriched flour tortillas as a food option in
Mexico.
- 1993 China starts to manufacture the Mexican flour tortilla.
Sources: Chronicles of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Manuel
Villagómez, TIA and Tortilla Topics
|
|
