Wisconsin tortilleria providing fresh, stone-ground, authentic Mexican corn tortillas made with locally-grown Midwest corn
When Julian Zepeda moved to Madison, Wisconsin, he craved the beautiful tortillas from his home in Jalisco, Mexico. “Why is there so much corn growing here, and there are no fresh tortillas?” he wondered.
To satisfy his appetite, he took matters into his own hands. In the kitchen of his studio apartment, he used the traditional process of nixtamalization to turn whole kernels of dried corn into fresh masa, and then handmade tortillas. This unlocked the flavors of home he was missing, and soon, the marine biologist was exploring the possibility of turning his craving into a business.
Nixtamalization is a method of cooking dried corn with an alkaline substance, such as wood ash, lye, or lime, to increase corn's nutritional value and improve its flavor and aroma. Hominy is whole nixtamalized corn, and nixtamalized corn, or nixtamal, is ground and used to make masa, an essential ingredient for tortillas, tamales, and other foods. The practice was developed by Native communities of Mesoamerica thousands of years ago.
“We love educating people on this ancient process,” said Heidi, Julian’s wife and business partner. As is the case with all food manufacturers that are making familiar foods from very different ingredients and methods, education is built into their work—they have to help people differentiate between the tortillas they make and the ones typically found in stores. Fortunately, the taste of Tortilleria Zepeda’s goods does a lot of explaining on its own, and Heidi, a comedian, tries to find fun ways to get their messaging across, like a Silly Wednesday feature each week on Instagram.
There are important differences between conventional tortillas and the new wave of craft tortillas made by Tortilleria Zepeda and other artisan tortilla makers. Most corn tortillas currently available in the U.S. and Mexico are made using masa harina, a dried form of traditional masa, typically combined with preservatives and stabilizers for shelf-stability. The tortillas made with this rehydrated product lack the flavor and nutritional diversity of freshly made masa, favoring uniformity and standardization over other culinary and nutritional qualities.
Artisan tortilla makers are dialing back production scale and standardization, and in doing so, diving deeper into food traditions. They are often sourcing unique and culturally important heritage and landrace varieties of corn, and working intimately with farmers to grow and improve open-pollinated varieties well suited to tortilla making through hand selection of their preferred ears for replanting as next year’s seed. In the case of Tortilleria Zepeda, they are using white, red, and yellow varieties from three Wisconsin farms. You can read more about their farm partnerships here.
While making tortillas out of their home kitchen, Julian and Heidi were using a meat grinder as a mill. Once the couple decided to turn their personal quest into an enterprise, they needed to find appropriate processing equipment. Heidi is from Lone Rock, WI, and her sister told her about Lonesome Stone Milling. When Heidi called Gilbert Williams, the now retired owner, they asked if he had a mill to spare. Starting in 2018, they rented space from Lonesome Stone, and this year became the sole occupants and purchased the building. They have one part-time sales associate and two seasonal apprentices who help with production.
Lonesome Stone Milling and Meadowlark Organics introduced Julian and Heidi to AGC, and we asked Tortilleria Zepeda to participate in the Neighbor Loaves program as "Tortillas Comunitarias." Thanks to Madison-area partners including AGC member REAP Food Group, Rooted, Raices para el Cambio / Roots4Change Co-op, and Pasture & Plenty, community donations helped distribute tortillas as part of the Farms to Families initiative during the pandemic.
Like craft bakeries that use fresh flour, stone ground fresh masa tortillas are an emerging artisan food. Tortillas have strong cultural ties to particular geographies and peoples, and the industrialized farm and food system threatens corn traditions and foods in the U.S. and Mesoamerica. Various movements have sprung up to protect corn in the wake of NAFTA, like Fundación Tortilla, which has been working in Mexico since 2015. The organization promotes the “culture and consumption of corn and tortillas,” and Julian connected with them as he taught himself the art and science of tortilla making.
The couple hopes that consumers start demanding that their tortillas are made from fresh-milled masa and not overly processed, helping to support local farmers by purchasing local and organic corn and encouraging an increase in more diverse crops each growing season. You can hear the passion in their voices in this video from Project Pitchit.
Read more about corn in AGC’s Grain Guide and follow along with Tortilleria Zepeda using the below links.
Learn more about Tortilleria Zepeda's origin and collaboration with farmers: