''Totopo'', in Mexican cuisine, is a flat, round, or triangular corn item similar to a

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of M ...

, that has been toasted, fried or baked, but it may be prepared with

nixtamalized Nixtamalization () is a process for the preparation of corn, or other grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (but sometimes aqueous alkali metal carbonates), washed, and then hulled. The term ...

corn

masa ''Masa'' (or ''masa de maíz'') (; ) is a maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalized corn. It is used for making corn tortillas, '' gorditas'', ''tamales'', '' pupusas'', and many other Latin American dishes. It is dried and powdered into ...

. Totopos are best known as originating from Zapotec peoples of the

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

Tehuantepec Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic peri ...

region of the Mexican state of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

. There, the Zapotec women bake totopos in a clay oven known as a . Totopos resemble a round, baked

tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...

or certain types of Scandinavian

flat bread A flatbread is a bread made with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pizza and pita bread. Flatbreads ra ...

; however, unlike tortillas, salt is added to the masa and holes are made in the disk prior to baking. ''Totopo'' may also refer to triangular fried tortillas (), which are essentially tortilla chips. When the whole round tortilla is baked or fried it is generally known as a '' tostada''. An important feature of the baking and salting process is preservation. To prevent the decomposition of the corn and growth of

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...

, regular tortillas generally need to be eaten the same day as they are made (or stored cold) due to the moisture content, whereas totopos may be stored for future consumption, in the same manner as dry crackers. In some cases, fried tortilla chips commercially made both in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

are labeled as or referred to as ''totopos'', although they are not made in the manner of the Oaxacan totopo and are more akin to tortilla chips.

Etymology

The name ''totopo'' comes from the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

(or Nahuatl) '','' meaning 'toasted thing or thing that crunches when eaten', from the verb 'to crunch or to toast'. To differentiate the word from other toasted things, sometimes the compound was used, meaning 'toasted tortilla'. The combined word means, approximately, 'tortillas that are noisy to chew'.

References

External links

Photos of totopos and explanation in Spanish
(link broken as of 2009-05-09

Photos of
Totopo Oven Comixcal
{{Mexican cuisine Oaxacan cuisine Maize dishes Mexican breads Tortilla