Tortillería

A tortillería is a shop that makes and sells fresh corn tortillas, typically using a mechanical tortilla machine; tortillerías supply homes, taco stands and taquerías across Mexico and are the everyday source of the tortilla that holds most tacos.

Description

At the tortillería customers buy tortillas still warm from the machine, often after waiting in line. The trade grew with the machine: Gastrolab notes that fixed and mobile taquerías became common in the mid-twentieth century, a spread it ties to the tortilla-making machine and to commercial refrigeration.

The machine

Mechanized tortilla making in Mexico dates to the early 1900s. México Desconocido and Xataka México both describe a machine built in 1904 by Everardo Rodríguez and Luis Romero that used rollers to feed dough to a comal; México Desconocido reports that it produced square tortillas that customers rejected as poor for tacos. The design that became standard is credited to Fausto Celorio, an inventor from Veracruz, who in 1947 introduced a roller system to cut and convey tortillas. Xataka reports that Celorio's company sold some 42,000 machines between 1960 and 1980 and that machines bearing his name reached the United States, India, the Middle East and Africa.

Tortillería customs

The tortillería has its own small rituals. L.A. TACO and Masienda founder Jorge Gaviria both describe the practice of offering a fresh tortilla with salt, a taco de sal, to people waiting in line, and Gaviria notes the salt shaker that often sits on the counter for the purpose. Changes in tortilla prices are felt quickly at taco stands: Vanguardia reported in 2021 that some Saltillo taquerías planned to stop serving the second tortilla, the copia, after a price rise.

Reviews

See also

• Corn tortilla
• Masa
• Nixtamalization
• Taco de sal
• Doble tortilla
• Tortilla press
• Comal

References

1. "Día del Taco, desde cuándo y por qué se celebra a esta delicia nacional". Gastrolab. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "El año que en México se vendieron tortillas cuadradas". México Desconocido. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
3. "Fausto Celorio, el mexicano genio detrás de la máquina que ha alimentado a México por más de 70 años". Xataka México. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
4. "A Tiktok Chef Making a 'Taco de Sal' (Salt Taco) Is Going Viral For Pranking Everyone". L.A. TACO. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
5. "An Ode to the Taco de Sal by Jorge Gaviria". Jacobsen Salt Co.. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
6. "Tacos sin 'copia' en Saltillo... tras aumento en la tortilla". Vanguardia. Retrieved 2026-10-10.