There are far more bad tortillas out there than good ones. Seriously, finding a package of decent corn tortillas is basically the toughest part of making awesome tacos at home. That's why we're in the tortilla education business. We want you to leave the store with the best possible foundation for your tacos or chilaquiles or enchiladas. This is what you need to know to buy the best corn tortillas you possibly can.
Let’s start with the package. While we don't advocate for judging a book by it's cover, in this case, it's necessary. (In our experience, most store owners don't like it when you open up a package and help yourself to a sample. Rude!) When you’re standing in the store, staring at the tortillas in your hand, you should look for a couple things. The date that the tortillas were packaged is pretty important. What a good corn tortilla comes down to, as is the case with just about everything in the food world, is how fresh it is. A packaging date closer to the day you buy them will give you a better tortilla across the board. Also, make sure to look where the tortillas were made. A producer closer to your current location means less time for the tortilla to dry out in transport. Tortillas from smaller, locally-distributed brands are usually going to be fresher than a big brand that ships all over the country. (And it should go without saying that, if you have a tortilleria in your town, buying direct is going to be your absolute best option.)
And while we’re here, let’s talk location. You’re going to have more luck buying corn tortillas at a Mexican market, or at least at a grocery store that stocks a lot of Mexican products. The quality will be better, and the rate at which customers buy them will be higher. A higher rate of purchase ends in a more frequently replenished stock of fresh corn tortillas.
But really, you should be asking yourself, “What’s in the bag? What’s in the baggggg?!?” with the same urgency that Brad Pitt possessed in that final scene of Se7en. Looking and smelling and feeling the tortillas is the best way to know. When you flex the package, the tortillas should bend without sticking together. That’s a sign of freshness. You should also look for condensation on the inside of the bag, another sign that the tortillas still have some moisture. And if you see any hard or cracked edges, you should just drop those frauds and run out of the store. And tortillas should never smell sour, although many do. That’s not a sign of spoilage, but an indication that they’re treated with an acid that make them shelf-stable for longer.
But say you get home with a bag of corn tortillas that seem great, and you open them only to realize that they’re dry and crumbly and not-so-up-to-the-taco-task-at-hand. That’s cool. It happens. Don’t sweat it. Frying less-than tortillas until they're crispy is the best way to pull your taco dinner out of the fire. Make some puffy tacos or tostadas, and no one will even think to question your ingredients.
The real takeaway here is that knowing what the hell you’re looking for at the grocery store is the easiest way to set yourself up for a good dinner. And more specifically, good tacos. With a dish so beloved, and let’s be honest beautiful, pure, and heartwarming, we want every part of them to be as good as possible. That means none of the flaky, disintegrating, shelf-stable variety. Just those super-fresh, ultra-corn-y, pliable beds for our easy bacon-y carnitas and carne and fish and barbacoa. They deserve it.