Tortilla machine
A tortilla machine, called in Spanish máquina tortilladora, is a machine for processing corn dough (masa) into corn tortillas for serial production. They are usually found in tortillerías or tortilla shops in Mexico and some parts of the United States and produce from 30 to 60 tortillas per minute.
These Mexican-patented machines receive a mass of nixtamalized corn for compression and shaping into thin tortillas. These are passed through an oven on a metal conveyor belt for baking, followed by packaging for sale to consumers. Tortillas are sold by weight rather than number.
History
The earliest tortilla machines were invented by Evarardo Rodríguez Arce and Luis Romero, and patented in 1904.<ref>"Historia de la tortilla mexicana" [History of the tortilla]. Distribudora de alimentacion mexicana (in español). Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2023.</ref> Their machine formed dough balls into square tortillas, and was not commercially successful.<ref name="mdp">"Fausto Celorio, the entrepreneur who created the tortilla machine". Mexico Daily Post. May 28, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2023.</ref>
Mexican inventor Fausto Celorio Mendoza is credited with the invention of the first automatic tortilla machine.<ref>Sunner, Yeicko (February 3, 2023). "Five curious facts about tacos". Guía Gastronómica de CDMX. Retrieved November 2, 2023.</ref> Celorio's 1947 machine pressed dough into round flats, then transported the flats to a series of three ovens for baking, and could produce one tortilla per minute. Celorio worked with engineer Alfonso Gándara to improve the machine's product and efficiency, so that by 1963 the machines were capable of producing 132 kg (291 lb) of tortillas per hour.<ref name="mdp"/>
