Bringing blue corn from Mexico to Australia for traditional tortillas
Blue corn has been cultivated in Mexico for thousands of years, and now it is being grown commercially in Australia.
After six years of research and innovation, Melbourne-based Mexican food company La Tortilleria has successfully harvested a crop of blue corn to make traditional tortillas.
La Tortilleria co-founder Gerardo Lopez said it had been challenging, but rewarding.
"I just really wanted those blue corn tortillas that you find in the small towns in Mexico and the villages," Mr Lopez said.
"As far as we can tell … we are the first ones to develop a crop that we can use for tortilla-making outside of Mexico."
La Tortilleria is growing blue corn in Victoria. (Supplied: La Tortilleria)
Bringing blue corn to Australia
Childhood memories of eating blue corn tortillas after mountain climbing in Mexico inspired Mr Lopez to replicate the taste in Australia.
"There was a lady on the side of the street selling blue corn quesadillas and she would make them by hand," he said.
"And it was just such a reward after a weekend of climbing and being up on the mountain."
Growing blue corn in Australia has not been a simple process.
La Tortilleria wants to replicate the taste of traditional blue corn tortillas. (Supplied: La Tortilleria)
With the help of a CSIRO funding grant and researchers at Federation University, La Tortilleria navigated Australia's strict quarantine and biosecurity rules.
"They just grew about 10 of the seeds into plants and we got only 20 seeds on the other side," Mr Lopez said.
"You start from nothing really."
Trials began in Victoria, with early plants producing fairly small yields.
But the crop harvested in March this year showed promise.
"Seeing the machinery going through and piling up tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of corn … that was amazing,"
Mr Lopez said.
Australian scientist Gururaj Kadkol has 40 years' experience in plant breeding and became involved in the blue corn project in 2023.
Gururaj Kadkol says it takes time to adapt a new crop to Australian conditions. (Supplied: La Tortilleria)
He helped develop a blue corn variety that would grow well in Australian conditions.
"We were able to settle on one that seems to grow happily," Mr Kadkol said.
"It has got a reasonable yield level, maybe six tonnes, seven tonnes per hectare.
"We need to go higher than that … but for now, we've got a product that will do a reasonable job."
Health benefits
Blue corn gets its colour from anthocyanins, the antioxidant pigments responsible for the deep blue hue.
They are the same antioxidants found in blueberries.
"[Blue corn] has got the best anthocyanin content … it gives some great health benefits," Mr Kadkol said.
As for the flavour, Mr Lopez described the tortilla made from the blue corn as "nutty and earthy".
Gerardo Lopez is conscious of honouring the traditional Mexican blue corn. (Supplied: La Tortilleria)
"There's not a lot of food that I can actually pinpoint that has that sort of a flavour that is earthy," he said.
"It not only tastes [like Mexico], it smells like Mexico."
While Australian blue corn has been adapted from the Mexican grain, Mr Lopez is conscious of keeping true to its roots.
"There's thousands of years of this tradition. There's all of this that has come with this crop," he said.
"We're responsible to make sure that we continue to honour those traditions and do it the right way."
It is still early days for the Australian crop and more work is needed, but Mr Lopez said the future was bright.
"The next step for us is to get all the nutritional testing and understand more about this Australian blue corn," Mr Lopez said.
"Now that we have something that is so special, our aim is to break into the health food market, but also export.
"I think it would be a great opportunity not only for the farmers [but] for Australians."
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