Texas Locavore

Developed in Central America before the arrival of Europeans, tamales are said to have been a sort of Aztec sandwich — a portable, nutritious meal on which warriors could fortify themselves during periods away from home. The tamale consists of a meat or vegetable filling encased in a ground-corn dough and wrapped in either a corn husk or a banana leaf, depending on the region. The whole packet is steamed before serving, then typically accompanied by beans and possibly rice and salsa or other condiments. What makes a tamale a tamale, beyond the papery wrapping, is that ground-corn dough, called masa, which is made from corn that’s been treated with lime (calcium hydroxide, a dry white powder… not the citrus fruit). David Castillo of La Nortena Factory in Pecos, explains, “When lime is mixed with water, it forms an acid that peels the outer hull of the corn.” Castillo and his crew bring dried corn to a boil in a vat of lime-infused water, then let the mixture steep overnight. Then, he says, they run the corn through a washer that rinses away the hull, leaving clean corn for milling into masa. Tamales have been in Texas for hundreds of years, and today you can buy them in restaurants and markets all around the state. Leonor Banos sells the excellent specimens she makes (above, with black-bean filling) at the Saturday farmers’ markets in Austin and Sunset Valley, as well as at the restaurant she and her husband run in Cedar Creek. While Banos imports her corn from Mexico, Castillo gets his from Texas growers. His tamales, along with the prepared masa he also sells, are hard to come by for Austinites, though. They’re for sale only at his shop in Pecos — about a 6-hour drive from Austin, but a worthy rest-stop on my next trek to El Paso and beyond.