Bringing Masa Back
masienda
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masienda -
The company breaking the Masa monopoly.
Living in California’s melting pot means savory Latin American food on every corner. Many of these dishes, including my favorite: tamales, start with masa harina. Although it’s a staple ingredient, masa has a politicized, commercialized past that sought profits over pleasing our palettes.
Jorge Gaviria and Masienda, his masa harina brand, are taking back culinary control. For the last decade, they’ve offered premium masa products that support local communities and bring tastiness back to Latin American cuisine.
Image courtesy of Masienda and Graydon Herriott
the better masa company
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the better masa company -
Heirloom Masa
Masienda founder, Jorge Gaviria, describes his products as heirloom masa. This sets the brand’s high-quality, delicious, farmer-preserved Mexican corn apart from the mass-produced, genetically modified varieties found in the US. Heirloom masa puts taste at the forefront.
Why You Should Care About Masa
In the simplest terms, masa harina is dough flour. You start with corn kernels that have been soaked in water and lime juice (or calcium hydroxide). This process is called nixtamalization. The kernels are ground to create a dough, this product is slowly dried, and the resulting powder gives you masa harina.
Hundreds of Latin American dishes start with this ingredient. LA’s hub of Mexican cuisine wouldn’t be as delicious without sopes, gorditas, quesadillas, tacos, enchiladas, and the comfort of handmade tortillas. For those who grew up in a Latinx household, masa harina means culture, holidays, traditions, and family.
Because of the food’s popularity, we’re in a new wave of heirloom masa appreciation. Restaurants and foodies are looking for tortilla or dough dishes made with organic, less-known corn varieties from small farmers in Mexico. With one bite, you can taste the difference in quality with these new dough flours. Store-bought corn products just don’t cut it after eating a meal with heirloom masa harina.
A Monopoly in Masa
Before this movement, you’d find one masa harina brand in the market. Do the Mission or Guerrero tortillas or Maseca flour ring a bell? These products are part of Gruma Corporation, which dominated the masa harina and tortilla market in Mexico and the US for decades.
Roberto González Barrera created the Gruma brand and started with a masa harina product in 1949. It didn’t sell well. The time-saving benefits were there, but the flavor wasn’t. In the 90s, Barrera enlisted help from then-president De Gortari to spread his product across the country. Pre-Maseca, the government bought corn from growers and sold it at a subsidized cost to tortilla owners.
To help Barrerra and Gruma, De Gortari stopped supplying fresh corn and only offered Maseca at a lower cost. The government also gave free or inexpensive equipment to motivate tortilla shops to make the transition. Unfortunately, this practice spread and businesses and the public were forced into buying Gruma’s masa harina.
Meet Jorge Gaviria
Jorge Gaviria was raised in a Mexican-Cuban household in Miami. As a fine-dining apprentice, he was asked to prioritize quality and flavor or quantity at a culinary conference. Gaviria took on the challenge of finding alternatives for corn, the most mass-produced vegetable in the US. A visit to Mexico gave him an answer: small-scale farmers were growing flavorful corn, but they were struggling financially. In 2014, he merged his love for corn and desire to assist the farmers with Masienda.
Masienda
As stated on the Masienda website, Graviera wants to “share the richness of [the masa harina] tradition and help preserve one of the world’s most important crops.” He’s proving that restaurants and customers don’t have to settle for bland masa harina products.
Masienda has partnered with big-name eateries like Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill and Enrique Olvera’s iconic Cosme. They are on dozens of menus across the country and two of their masa harina products are sold at Whole Foods. The kernels for these products are produced in small batches by their team of over 2000 Mexican small-scale farmers. Masienda only buys an owner’s surplus corn, pays them a competitive, local market rate, and offers advanced payments.
Image courtesy of Masienda and Graydon Herriott
Masienda Products
The brand has almost every product you’d need for a heirloom masa harina feast. You’ll find the OG flours, beans, salsas, tortilla presses, and other cooking tools.
Heirloom Corn Masa Harina
Currently, Masienda has four, colorful masa harina products to choose from. There’s the white masa harina that’s flexible for most recipes and has a fluffy texture. Yellow masa harina has a sweet, carrot-like flavor and works best for larger tortillas –and making super quesadillas. Blue corn masa harina packs a rich, earthy taste and creates charcoal-colored foods that aren’t common on most plates. The red masa harina comes from red cónico corn kernels, has a nutty taste, and gives the dough a lovely, cinnamony pink hue.
Kitchen Tools
Pans work fine for cooking tortillas, but if you can up your game with a comal. The Made In Cookware x Masienda comal is a large, circular griddle that heats up quickly and evenly and weighs less than cast iron. Don’t shy away from making it a multi-purpose pan. It works great for eggs, veggies, and steaks too!
With The Molinitio, Masienda has taken the extra step for chefs, restaurant professionals, and eager home cooks who want to grind their corn. This compact grinding mill fits on a countertop and uses volcanic stone to pulverize kernels. At $1995, it’s definitely an investment. But, it's worth the pride of saying you processed, ground, prepped, and cooked your meal!
Forget that generic tortilla press in your Amazon cart; support a local Mexican artisan who has decades of experience instead! The Doña Rosa Tortilla Press is named after the woman who makes Masienda’s statement-making products. The presses don’t just look good. They’re durable and accommodate all tortilla thickness preferences.
The book on Masa
If you really want to nerd out on masa and history, check out Gaviria’s book Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple. It’s the ultimate masa guide that earned the LA Times’ Best Cookbook award in 2022. It features insights from tortilleria owners, food scientists, journalists, and other masa experts, so you know it’s legit.
Where to buy it
Masienda sells wholesale quantities of masa harina for restaurants and professionals. Chefs can order bulk or create their ideal corn blend with the kernel-to-masa program. They can customize the flour and include multiple corn varieties based on their preference or culinary needs. For example, with the program they can create a less absorbent flour, which makes a less absorbent dough, meant for frying.
Home cooks can purchase Masienda products on the website. But no worries if you’d rather eat than make your own tortillas. Use the Masa Map to find restaurants that nixtamalize their masa harina or highlight heirloom corn in their dishes.
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