| Name: | Tortilla | | Plural names: | Tortillas |
| Description: | In Mexican, Central American, American, and Canadian terms, a tortilla is a kind of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize (corn) or wheat flour. The maize version is the original North American tortilla and is regarded by many as the "authentic" tortilla. In fact, this form of bread pre-dates the arrival of Europeans to America, and was only called "tortilla" by the Spanish from its resemblance to the traditional Spanish round unleavened cakes and omelettes (originally made without potatoes, which are native to South America).
The flour tortilla is probably best known in the USA as the tortilla used to make burritos, a preparation orginating in northern Mexico. Wheat tortillas are also a traditional staple of the peoples of northwestern Mexican states (such as Sonora and Chihuahua) and many southwestern US Native American tribes. As an easy solution to both the problems of handling food in microgravity and preventing bread crumbs from escaping into delicate instruments, wheat flour tortillas have been used on many NASA Shuttle missions since 1985. [1]
Maize tortillas are known in the Basque Country of Spain as talo and were a traditional Basque farmers' staple until the introduction of railborne wheat flour suitable for bread.
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