Wrap your heated tortillas in aluminium foil or a thick cloth and place them inside a tortilla basket or casserole dish. This traps the steam and heat to ensure they stay soft and pliable for your guests.
The secret to preventing corn tortillas from hardening is maintaining moisture through a layered wrapping system.
Efficient batch heating
When we prepare large batches for events, we heat tortillas in piles of two to four on a very hot frying pan without oil or in a sandwich press for about five seconds per side. This method significantly speeds up the process compared to heating them individually, ensuring you spend less time at the stove and more time with your guests. You will know they are ready when they become soft and floppy, a texture that distinguishes real masa from the stiff results of instant masa harina.
Creating a heat seal
Immediately wrap each heated pile in aluminium foil or a thick, clean cloth to lock in the residual steam. This crucial step allows the tortillas to soften further while preventing the edges from curling or drying out in the open air. Customers at our Kensington tortilleria often ask how to maintain that fresh-pressed pliability during a party; we always recommend this wrapping technique to keep the corn hydrated.
Long-term party warmth
Place the wrapped piles inside a dedicated tortilla basket or a ceramic casserole dish to provide a final layer of insulation. These vessels act as heat reservoirs, keeping the first batch warm while you continue reheating the remainder of your tortillas. Because our corn undergoes traditional nixtamalization, the tortillas have a superior structure, but they still require this trapped heat to remain flexible for rolling or folding.
Where to find authentic tortillas in Australia
Authentic nixtamal tortillas are genuinely hard to find in mainstream Australian supermarkets like Coles or Woolworths, which often rely on processed alternatives. You can secure our fresh, stone-ground corn tortillas through our online shop, at our Melbourne store, or from selected independent grocers across the country. We offer both White Corn and Blue Corn variants, with the latter being almost impossible to find elsewhere in Australia.
