Tortilla manufacture

Most manufacturing processes do not detoxify aflatoxin and therefore if the aflatoxins are not detected, products will be marketed. One of the processes used for reducing aflatoxin levels is nixtamalization (alkaline cooking), which is used during the making of corn tortillas, tortilla chips, and corn chips, and gives a 51 to 78% reduction in aflatoxin levels (Torres et al., 2001). 

Interestingly, fumonisin Bl, a liver-targeting mycotoxin found in com, is detoxified during manufacturing of tortilla chips, partially through its interaction with glucose and formation of the respective Amadori compound and products of its degradation. ... 

According to end use, wheat is classified as soft, hard, and durum. The first two classes are almost always dry-milled into refined flour for the manufacturing of fermented and chemical-leavened bakery products such as breads, cakes, crackers, cookies, and flour tortillas (Figure 1.8). Durums are dry-milled into coarse refined meals called semolina, ideally suited for manufacturing of long and short pasta products. Rye flour is usually mixed with wheat flour for the production of fermented breads including sour breads, especially in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and other European countries. 

FIGURE 9.1 Flowchart of industrial processes for the manufacture of table tortillas, corn chips, tortilla chips, and dry masa flour. 

Flowchart of industrial processes for the manufacture of table tortillas from... 

Masa flours designed especially for production of white and yellow table tortillas, restaurant-style tortilla chips, tortilla chips, com chips, and tamales (Chapter 16) are available. Some companies offer more than 25 different masa flours formulated to meet certain color, pH, particle-size distribution, water absorption, and viscosity requirements. In terms of particle-size distribution, three major classes of dry masa flours are recognized for table tortillas, for com chips, and for tortilla chips. Table tortillas are nsnally manufactured from fine flonrs, whereas com and tortilla chips... 

A hour tortilla can be dehned as a circular chemically leavened hat bread. Flour tortillas are mainly produced from rehned hours, although whole-wheat hour tortillas are gaining in popularity. Generally, tortillas are 2 nun thick and have diameters that vary from 15 to 33 cm. Most wheat tortillas are industrially manufactured by hot-press, die-cut, or hand-stretch procedures (Figure 10.8 Sema-Saldivar et al. 1988, Serna-Saldivar and Rooney 2003). Each operation requires different hour specihcations, dough preparation, and baking conditions, which result in various tortilla characteristics. 

The current world market for snack foods represents a volume of more than 4.2 billion kg, which is equivalent to approximately 34.8 billion of annual sales. The United States alone manufactures and sells approximately 61% of this. In 2002, the American and British people had the highest annual per capita consumption of snack chips that included potato chips, tortilla chips, and extruded snacks, with an average annual intake of 7.3 and 6 kg, respectively. Netherlanders, Australians, Spaniards, and Mexicans are next on the list (Pepsico 2004, Sema-Saldivar 2008). 

The rapid and exponential growth of the production and sales of lime-cooked snacks took place mainly during the last decade of the twentieth century. These snacks rapidly became popular in other areas of the world as well. Today, corn and tortilla chips are manufactured worldwide. Flat tostadas and tortilla chips are tortillas that are deep-fat fried they are widely used as snacks or vehicles for the preparation of fast foods. For their preparation, nixtamal and red-paprika peppers or annatto are stone-ground into a coarse masa. The red- or orange-colored masa is baked into a tortilla and then fried into a tostada. Tostadas are the base for the preparation of a wide array of meals. Sometimes, they are eaten as a snack with lemon juice and sauces. It is very common to consume tostadas with refried beans, cheese, shredded meats, and vegetables such as lettuce, tomato, onions, peppers, and radish. Taco shells are the American version of tostadas, the only difference being that they are usually fried bent (U form) and rarely colored. 

Tortilla chips are generally manufactured from coarsely ground masa either fresh or from dry flour that is sheeted, formed, and cut in preparation for the subsequent steps of baking, equilibration, frying, and salting/seasoning (Figure 12.5). Restaurant-... 

FIGURE 12.5 Flowchart of the manufacturing process of regular tortilla chips and related products. 

The next five chapters represent the core of the book becanse they thoroughly describe the processing of basically all types of cereal-based foods consumed by mankind. Chapter 10 covers bakery prodncts obtained from wheat, snch as different types of yeast-leavened breads, cookies, crackers, cakes, flonr tortillas, pasta, and noodles. Chapters 11 and 12 detail various industrial processes to manufacture... 

---