Tortillas

You are looking at the largest selection of tortillas for tens of thousands of square miles in Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming.  This is the WINCO tortilla section.  It's 36 feet long!  Practically every corn and wheat tortilla known to mankind in this region is in stock here.  It's almost like a Tortilla Disneyland.

I spend a pretty fair amount of time in this aisle and, likewise, I spent time watching how people shop for tortillas.  If you're a normal person, you probably haven't given tortilla shopping a second thought--or even a first thought, for that matter.

I've observed there are three kinds of tortilla shoppers.  1) Those who know what they want and do a surgical strike on this section; 2) Those who are clueless and stand around dazed and confused pawing through packages and trying to make sense of it all; and 3)Those who buy the largest possible quantity of corn tortillas for the lowest possible price.

This blog post is designed to help you avoid falling into category #2.  Hopefully, you can move into Tortilla Shopper Category #1.  The first thing you need to know is that tortillas are like snowflakes--no two brands or styles are alike.  Every tortilla maker strives to set themselves apart from every other tortilla maker.  The differences and nuances are often subtle but they are indeed discernible and distinct differences.  The next thing you need to know is that price is NEVER an indicator of quality in the tortilla market.  The most expensive tortilla is rarely the best tasting or the one most suitable for your culinary preferences.  Secondly, the cheapest tortilla, especially in a corn version, can often outshine tortillas selling for double the cost.  Third, READ THE LABEL!  Some tortillas are large quantities of chemicals and food additives masquerading as tortillas.  Others are as simply pure as newly fallen snow.
Fourth, CHECK THE CODE!  Tortillas age quickly and the closer to code they get, the worst they are.  The vendors who keep WINCO's tortilla-palooza stocked always put their freshest stock out of sight behind the older code dates.  ALWAYS reach back behind any given tortilla to find the freshest product.

There's no substitute for product sampling and comparison in any type of food but most espeecially in tortillas.  How does any given tortilla taste?  Does it feel like day old chewing gum?  It it light when toasted in a skillet or does it lie limp and dead like an old board on the forest floor?  These are questions only you can answer for your particular palate.  You must do your own due diligence.  The point of all this discourse is to encourage you to find your favorite tortilla and then stick to it. 

What I see daily in the WINCO tortilla section is people trying to make sense of a tortilla by its label.  If you can't tell a book by its cover, what makes you think you can tell a tortilla by its label?  People waste huge gobs of time staring dazed and confused at WINCO's tortilla section.

Years ago when we first became seasonal summer residents here in Idaho, we did the obligatory taste testing of all available tortillas.  We eventually settled on the Casa Valdez whole wheat tortilla.  It's perfect for both our palates and adapts well to all of the Mexican meals we care to prepare.  It keeps well in the fridge and retains freshness all the way out to its code date.  There's a great backstory about the company and they are relatively reasonably priced at roughly $2.25 for ten tortillas.

Back about six years ago, we found one tortilla that was so disgustingly terrible, we actually wrote a letter to the maker telling them they ought to be embarrassed by selling their inferior product.  Not surprisingly, we never heard back from them.

What's nice about being in Tortilla Shopper Category #1 is that we can do a "grab and go" drive-by in the tortilla aisle, even if its filled with gridlocked carts.  Since that aisle has all the Hispanic stuff, it's where the Mexicans like to hang out and have big family reunions while their children roll around on the floor and play imaginary Pancho Villa games.  We NEVER take our own cart into this aisle as we might not be to extricate ourselves for a week or two while the Mexicans are visiting with each other.  No matter how crowded that aisle becomes, we know the precise location of the Casa Valdez whole wheat tortillas and we hone in on our target like a heat seeking missile.  We can grab a package from the back and skee-daddled before anyone even know we were there.  "Who was that man?"

Being prepared in this manner is just one of our many combat shopping tactics for survival at the WINCO Spa and Relaxation Center.

VIVA TORTILLA & Many Cheers, jp