One of the iconic dishes of South America, and especially Mexico, a key player in Tex-Mex cuisine, and yet… there are those who can't eat it: we're talking about the tortilla and the difficulty of preserving it for all those people—still too many in the Mexican states—who don't own a refrigerator. But there is a solution, and it was discovered by a research team led by food scientist Raquel Gómez.
The Solution is in Probiotics
The tortilla is to Mexico a staple food that is never missing from Latin American tables and is usually prepared at home or purchased in neighborhood shops. Made simply from corn flour, oil, water, and salt, it's hard to imagine any problems related to its preservation. Yet there is a difficulty, because tortillas must be consumed within a few days and must be kept in the refrigerator. However, this appliance (which we take for granted) in Mexico is found in the homes of a select few, given its high cost: just consider, for example, that in the southern state of Chiapas, less than two-thirds of the population owns a refrigerator.
Precisely for this reason, the research team led by food scientist Raquel Gómez, from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, has developed a particular recipe for tortillas, which includes the use of probiotics, such as those contained in yogurt or lactic ferments: the fermented ingredients, in fact, ensure that the tortilla can last up to a month outside the refrigerator without deteriorating.
The recipe developed by Gómez and his team could, at least in part, solve a problem—related to the preservation methods, which some still use traditional methods, such as salting the meat and drying it in the sun or storing the tortillas in containers made from tree bark —which causes significant problems: according to official data, approximately 14% of children in Mexico suffer from chronic malnutrition, and approximately 27% in indigenous communities. Despite the promising prospects, the tortilla, patented in 2023, is unfortunately not yet commercially available.
Two Birds With One Stone
Not only could the tortilla created by Gómez solve a problem that affects thousands of people, it could actually be much healthier than traditional tortillas. The probiotics used in this innovative tortilla, which allow it to last longer, also make it possible to avoid the use of artificial preservatives, thus obtaining a better product both nutritionally and above all, healthily. In fact, one of the most commonly used additives in tortillas is calcium propionate, considered harmful to the bacterial flora of the colon.
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