Hispanic Heritage Month

Making Tortillas!

National Hispanic Heritage Month is the period from September 15 to October 15 in the United States, when people recognize the contributions of Hispanics and Latino Americans to the United States and celebrate the group's heritage and culture.

Immersion through Literacy

Books are a wonderful way to introduce the many aspects of the Hispanic culture.  Some of my favorite books :

Round Is a Tortilla and Magda's Tortillas

Both of these books discuss the shapes of tortillas. Sometimes you want a traditional round tortilla, but sometimes you can become a "tortilla artist" and create different shapes.

After reading the books we discussed the term "masa de maiz" (corn flour / dough).  Children had the opportunity to ground corn to get a better understanding of how tortillas go from corn to flour to dough to tortillas.

Ingredients:

Masa de maiz , water, and salt

I purchased a bag of maza in the Hispanic / Latino section in the grocery store.

Nice and Round

Some of the children wanted to use the tortillera to make their tortilla perfectly round.

Tortilla Artists

Some chose to use their hands to pat the maza into unique shapes.

Cooking the Tortillas

The cooking process only takes a few minutes and then the tortillas are ready to be eaten straight of the comal (griddle).