our tortilla tale

making corn tortillas began when…

We travelled to Mexico in 2009, we ate true corn tortillas and loved them. Back home we wanted to make our own, we were told you just add water to masa harina corn flour (stabilized with gums and preservatives) to make a dough to flatten into tortillas. All the supermarket ones we could find were made like this. We decided if we were going to keep eating lots of tortillas we should make them from scratch using New Zealand grown corn which was growing right under our noses in sunny Tolaga Bay, Gisborne.

True corn tortillas: whole grain corn - heated and steeped in a limestone water - rinsed - stoneground into masa - rolled into tortillas - lightly cooked

Our tortilla obsession hummed quietly in the background while our main focus was on growing a family. After reading and learning more about the magic and science of nixtamalization in 2014 we purchased a very small hand cranked stone mill and had some local welders fix it to an exercycle found at a secondhand shop - we made our first true corn tortilla!

With two growing boys, the desire to feed our family nutritious, local food that would keep us healthy and strong had even more importance. This grinder was too small for our needs and we felt like New Zealanders were missing out on their own tortilla made from our own corn. In 2018 we purchased a volcanic stone mill from Mexico which really got us into gear.  Taking on advice from amazing tortilla makers overseas and spending a few years learning the art and science of tortilla making, we can say we make true corn tortillas right here in Gisborne. 

In Mexico they say “when you can get your tortilla to puff, you are ready to marry”.  A huge moment for us was when we got our tortillas to puff, we felt ready to share our tortillas to New Zealand.

Nutritional and full of flavour - enjoy!