MipiKale: Best of Kosherfest
MipiKale, a vegan/kosher foods blog, reviews some of the more interesting plant-based items that may find a way to your table, restaurant, or catering hall.
Best of Kosherfest Part 2—Vermont Tortillas, Gluten Free Baking, & Pretzel Challah
Published December 7, 2021
Vermont may not be the first place you think of when thinking about tortillas, but perhaps you should. April and Azur Moulaert are the founders and owners of the Vermont Tortilla Company. Leaving positions that involved extensive travel and constant grant applications, they decided to pursue their passion for Mexican cuisine and supporting the local organic food culture. Thus began their business of making real stone ground corn tortillas, something unavailable and vastly superior to the commercial tortillas on the market.
Only a handful of places in the United States make authentic stone ground corn tortillas, without additives or preservatives. What you are probably familiar with are corn tortillas made using rehydrated corn flour. While this is great for mass production, few use traditional methods, using a process called nixtamalization that goes back thousands of years.
First developed in Mesoamerica, the process was also used by Indigenous People in North America, from Texas to New England. The corn kernel is soaked and cooked in a lime solution which removes the skin and produces a softer dough than unprocessed ground corn. The resulting product is more nutritious, has less mycotoxins, and has better flavor. The nixtamalization process also converts bound niacin (vitamin B3) in the corn to free niacin that the body can absorb.
What they make is a superior and delicious product that supports local, organic farmers and sustainable agriculture. The tortillas are available in 4” and 6” diameter and have an amazing texture and flavor, quite unlike the bland product you get in the supermarket. I was really surprised by how different they were from any other tortillas I have tasted. They are the perfect base for tacos, enchiladas, taquitos, tostadas, and nachos.
You can use them in any recipe calling for tortillas, of course. At the end of this post, check out a recipe for Chile Lime Cauliflower Tacos. There are plenty more, many vegan, on their website. Ask for them at your local retailer or order direct from the manufacturer online. Supervised by MK (Montreal Kosher).
