Having found great success, the cultivation of wheat soon spread beyond the Central Mexican Plateau through Catholic monks.

This plateau is broken by mountain ranges into a number of rich districts specially adapted for the growing of wheat, namely, the Lerma Valley, roughly, 200 by 16 miles; the Bajio (Northern Michoacán, Jalisco and Southern Guanajuato), 200 by 200miles; Aguascalientes, 50 by 50 miles; the San Luis Potosi and Queretaro district, 150 by 30 miles.”[11]Considering that most wheat production was in Central and Southern Mexico, not in the North, it is probable that wheat flour tortillas may have originated in this region.

French explorer, Pierre Marie François de Pagés, who visited Texas in 1767, details the humble diet of the inhabitants of Los Adaes, then the capital of the province, consisting mainly of corn tortillas.

Wheat was unavailable in Texas: “The chief means of their subsistence is Indian corn, which they boil, mixed with quick-lime, by which the hulk is dissolved to a kind of powder, and the grain considerably softened.

This bread is the native food of the people in New Spain; and, indeed, when these thin cakes, or rather wafers, named by the Spaniards tortillas, are well baked, they are far from being unpleasant.”[26]The same was true in the province of Sonora, where the German Jesuit missionary, Ignaz Pfefferkorn, described in 1756 how corn tortillas were the staple “bread” of the Sonorans, even in the wealthiest homes: “Sonorans also make thin, round maize cakes, about a quarter of an ell in diameter.

They are made by putting maize in water the evening before to soften it during the night so that in the morning the skin can be peeled off the kernels.

From the dough they break off one dumpling after, beat, turn, and stretch it between the hands until the above-mentioned cakes, or so-called tortillas, are of the proper thickness and size.

[…] The Spaniards, as has been said, make much fuss over these cakes […]”[27] While in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 1840’s, American explorer and merchant, Josiah Gregg, wrote: “The staple productions of the country are emphatically Indian corn and wheat.

The former grain is most extensively employed for making tortillas an article of food greatly in demand among the people, the use of which has been transmitted to them by the aborigines.

The corn is boiled in water with a little lime: and when it has been sufficiently softened, so as to strip it of its skin, it is ground into paste upon the metate, and formed into a thin cake.

[28] Pierre Fourier Parisot (1827-1903), a French Catholic missionary in 19th century American Texas, wrote similarly about the corn tortilla in the state 1857: “.

Bread in the Mexican ranches is not a wheaten loaf, but thin tortillas made from corn meal without any yeast.

[31] One of the most common folk origin stories is that flour tortillas were invented in Northern Mexico, based on the erroneous belief that wheat could only be grown in the north while corn could only grow in the south.

Some argue that hot and arid climates, like that of Sonora, are less supportive for growing corn,[32] thus, it grew poorly while it was more suitable for wheat.

While corn was plentiful in Northern Mexico and the American Southwest, and constituted the main dietary staple of the inhabitants of the region, and was, in no way, hampered by the harsh, hot and dry climate.

German Jesuit priest, Ignaz Pfefferkorn, who lived in Sonora from 1756 until 1767, wrote that Sonorans depended on corn for most of their diet and ate it in many forms, stating that besides tortillas: “The Spaniards also make different kinds of pastries from maize flour.

[…] The Sonorans eat maize with the greatest pleasure and with special appetite when it is fresh from the field, ripe but still tender.

They break off the so-called elotes (the thick ears with kernels attached to them) and cook and serve them with the olla (boiled mutton).

[36] According to this hypothesis, these Jews invented or introduced the flour tortilla as a substitution for Matzah or unleavened bread,[37] supposedly because they considered corn as non-kosher since it was fed to pigs.

[39][40] In fact, evidence from the 17th century Mexican Inquisition, in the Archivo General de la Nación, shows that Jews in northern Mexico were consuming corn tortillas because they had no access to wheaten unleavened bread[41][42] and, in many cases, their consumption was used as evidence against them, as was the case of Salomón de Machorro, a Sephardic Jewish man who was denounced and tried in 1650 for having consumed corn tortillas with fish and vegetables during Passover.

Industrially-produced tortillas typically contain numerous chemicals in order to ease the production process, control texture and flavor, and to extend shelf life.

Work has been done at Washington State University to develop methods for producing tortillas on a mass scale while still using only whole-wheat flour, water, oil, and salt, with a fermented flour-and-water sourdough starter replacing chemical leaveners.

Tortillas remain a staple food in Mexico and Central America, and have gained popularity and market share elsewhere.

[55] The recipe recommended by American chef and restaurateur Rick Bayless who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine uses just four ingredients: flour, lard, salt, and water.

Their popularity was driven by the low cost of inferior grades of wheat flour provided to border markets and by their ability to keep and ship well.

Maize and wheat tortillas can often be found in supermarkets in El Salvador and Costa Rica produced by Mexican companies.