Do you like the delicious, "earthy" smell of freshly-made corn tortillas?  Do you like to watch friendly folks prepare corn tortillas before your very eyes?  Do you like to eat your tortillas while they're still warm from the griddle?  If you answered yes to any of the questions and  you find yourself in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, you'll want to pay a visit to Tortilleria Progreso.

Tortilleria Progreso is located in Nuevo Progreso, at the corner of Av. Benito Juarez and Calle Durango, in the state of Tamaulipas.

Photo:  Tortilleria Progreso, located in the heart of El Centro at the corner of Av. Benito Juarez and Calle Durango.

Tortilleria Progreso is in the business of making corn tortillas, and that's what they do, and they do it well.  Jose and his sister have owned and operated the business for 27 years, and they've been in the same location for all those years.  They are a rather unique operation, in that the make corn tortillas the old fashioned way, from in-house ground corn, with a little lime added to the mix, for preservation.

Left:  Among other duties, Jose's sister works the counter and prepares our order of fresh corn tortillas.  The siblings refused to take our money for our kilo of tortillas.  Right:  Jose presents one of the grinding stones use to grind kernels of corn into "mush" to used in making tortillas.

When we visited the store, we got to talking to the friendly owner, Jose, and he offered to give us a tour of their operation. Now that's hospitality!

The corn arrives to the store in large, burlap sacks, and it's just raw, hard, kernels. The kernels are fed through a grooved tube, which resembles a rifle barrel, to a stone grinder, where they are ground into fine particles. Then, it's put into a rectangular cooker to soften and to add a bit of lime.  When the corn is soft, it is allowed to dry to a moist, dough-like mixture. Then the dough is fed into a tortilla machine, and... POOOF!  Out come the tortillas! Their newer tortilla machine is teflon-coated, while the older machine relies on the traditional method of using salad oil to provide a non-stick coating.

Left:  This machine is grinding hard kernels of corn into fine particles.  Note the gears and belts, which would be an O.S.H.A. nightmare if it was in the U.S.  Right:  The corn is put into a tub containing warm water and lye, and soaked unil the mixture becomes soft.

Photo:  "La Machina Tortilla" hard at work.  After the corn is softened, its made into dough and fed into the hopper of the tortilla machine.  As you can see, it produces perfect tortillas!

These nice people are very hard working, and produce the best corn tortillas that you've ever tasted. When you're visiting Nuevo Progreso, be sure to pay a visit to Tortilleria Progreso.