by Megan Minnick, Purchasing Director
I’ve traveled extensively in Mexico, and some of my all-time favorite food memories (and memories in general) come from these travels—especially the states of Oaxaca, Jalisco, and Nayarit. Though I’ve eaten plenty of delicious Mexican food stateside, I’ve never found anything quite as good as authentic, homemade Mexican corn tortillas. Corn tortillas have been a part of Mexican culture for thousands of years, and in many parts of Mexico, they are still an important part of every single meal. Mass-produced corn tortillas can be dry, tasteless, and brittle, but when they are fresh, made in the right way from real ingredients, and reheated in the correct way, corn tortillas are simply delicious.
So, when we were approached in the middle of February by husband and wife team Heidi and Julian, owners of a new local tortilleria called Tortilleria Zepeda, I was intrigued. Heidi and Julian make tortillas in the traditional way, using high-quality corn grown right here in Wisconsin.
Then I tried them, and it was love at first taste.
Because of the COVID-19 crisis that hit us all in March, getting these tortillas on our shelves took a bit longer than we hoped, but I’m happy to announce that you can now find them in stock at all of our stores. Look for them in the refrigerated section.
Below is an email conversation I recently had with Heidi and Julian. Enjoy!
How did you get the ideas to start a tortilla business?
Heidi left her home state of Wisconsin in 2013 to seek adventure south of the border in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There she met her husband, Julian Zepeda, who was working as a Marine Biologist. In 2016, they decided to set roots in Madison, Wisconsin near Heidi’s hometown of Spring Green. Disappointed with the lack of “authentic Mexican” tacos in Madison, Julian quickly realized the reason behind the missing Mexican authenticity was the tortilla. He asked Heid the following, “With fields upon fields of beautiful corn in Wisconsin, why is no one making fresh corn tortillas?” She responded, “great question!”
…and this is how the idea was born.
During Julian’s childhood and into adulthood, he spent hours in the kitchen observing and helping his grandmother and mother prepare traditional Mexican dishes. He already had quite a knack for preparing food and with the support of his family only a Skype call away, he was confident he could recreate the authentic style tortilla he grew up to love. Last year he furthered his education by participating in an apprenticeship in Mexico City and Guadalajara with leading “tortilleros” in the country, who taught him how to perfect the pre-Hispanic nixtamalization process to create the most authentic Mexican tortilla possible.
Heidi grew up on a grass-fed beef farm outside of Lone Rock, Wisconsin, so she is no stranger to agriculture and hard work. Through some previous contacts that her family knew from their farming days, she was introduced to Lonesome Stone Milling in Lone Rock, where they are currently renting production space.
Heidi, a local Wisconsin farm girl at heart, and Julian, who brings an authentic Mexican vision to food, believe themselves to be a winning pair to start a locally sourced Wisconsin corn tortilla company!
One thing that makes your tortillas really unique is your use of local corn. Can you tell me why you chose to use local and heirloom grains?
It was always our mission to support local farmers, but when we first started we were concerned that a local Wisconsin variety of corn would not create an authentic tortilla. We wanted to stay true to the authentic pre-Hispanic process of tortilla-making, in which the native corn of that region is used for tortilla production. We were pleasantly surprised with the outcome! The flavors of our tortillas are rich, fresh and authentic, and instantly made Julian nostalgic for his home country.
One thing that makes our tortillas unique is that we use the traditional pre-Hispanic, nixtamalization process to produce our "masa" (tortilla dough). This process has recently been lost in the industrialization of tortilla production, so that the tortillas can have an extended shelf life. In the nixtamalization process, the corn is cooked in an alkaline solution (in this case, pickling lime/calcium hydroxide) and soaked for 24 hours. The wet corn is then ground in a stone grinder and later mixed with water and a small amount of salt. We do not add any preservatives or additives, our ingredients are simple and transparent. Not only is the nixtamalization process the authentic traditional way to make tortillas, but there are nutritional benefits. There is a release of Vitamin B3 during the process and an increase in calcium and protein availability of the corn. Also, this process significantly reduces phytic acid, which blocks your absorption of zinc, calcium, and other important minerals.
Julian was able to bring some of our tortillas with him to Mexico last fall for his family to sample. Julian's father and grandmother can be quite the critics when it comes to food, having owned restaurants in Mexico themselves. After they tried our Wisconsin corn tortillas, they were beyond impressed and gave him their utmost approval and applause.
You've started selling your tortillas at a very challenging time (COVID-19). What additional challenges has this presented?
It's been a strange time, but as a food manufacturer, it has a silver lining. The major challenge is just pivoting our business model. Prior to COVID-19, we wanted to align ourselves with more restaurants and see our tortillas on many food menus around town, but with the closures of restaurants, we started focusing on retail options. Madison and the surrounding area has shown their support in incredible ways.
Where would you like to be in five years?
We would like to see our tortillas expand to new retailers and restaurants within the midwest region. Beyond the growth of our products and business, we also envision providing some type of community outreach, in the form of classes or tours, in which we can share an "Authentic Mexican Experience" with the community through food and education. We would also like to experiment with more products that align with "authentically Mexican." We have some really exciting, fun ideas for new tortilla flavors/varieties and some completely new product lines that we don't want to reveal quite yet!
How would you recommend heating your tortillas? What are a few of your favorite recipes?
The best way to reheat our tortillas is on the stovetop. It's important to heat your pan at a medium to high heat with no oil. Once the pan is nice and hot, place the tortilla in the pan for approximately 5 seconds and flip it a total of three times, until it starts to get flexible. If the pan isn't hot enough, it does not get flexible and becomes hard, (which can be yummy too!). Also, wrapping a few tortillas in a damp paper towel in the microwave for about 30 seconds (all microwaves vary), is a great option for heating multiple tortillas.
Here are a few of our favorite recipes!
Chilaquiles
Cut tortillas in strips. Fry in oil in a pan. Add salsa, top with an egg, avocado, sour cream, cilantro and cheese.
Enmoladas
Make (or purchase) a mole sauce.Heat mole with chicken broth over a stovetop. Dip tortilla in mole sauce until it's nice and soggy.
Add shredded chicken in each tortilla to make a "taco." Top with cheese, sour cream and onion.
Tortilla soup
Boil approximately 6 roma tomatoes. Remove skins, and blend in a blender. Sauté onion and garlic and add blended tomato puree.
Place onions, garlic, and tomatoes in a pot and add chicken (or veggie) broth, and one chipotle pepper. Fry or bake tortillas until they are chips.
Add chips to tomato broth, top with avocado, sour cream, cheese.
Quesadillas on the Grill
Place corn tortilla on a hot grill. Top with shredded white melting cheese (Quesadilla cheese or Jack work well), fold tortillas in half and let the cheese melt. Enjoy!