July 2, 2009
By Matthew Weaver
With flour tortilla consumption on the rise, a Pacific Northwest wheat-marketing center is looking for ways to tap into the growing market.
The center recently purchased upscale equipment to make flour tortillas, said Gary Hou, technical manager for the Wheat Marketing Center.
Consumption of flour tortillas has grown dramatically in the last few years, Hou said.
Jim Kabbani, executive director of the Tortilla Industry Association, said tortillas outsold sliced sandwich bread in the United States in 2008.
Kabbani said part of the growth of the market can be attributed to the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, but that cannot account for all of it.
"The big driver is that there are large numbers of non-Hispanic Americans who are adopting healthier eating habits," he said.
Instead of putting something on two slices of bread for a sandwich, people roll it into a tortilla for a wrap, Kabbani said.
Most tortilla sales are evenly split between corn and wheat. The growth of corn tortilla sales is mostly among the Hispanic population, he said, while non-Hispanic populations generally purchase more wheat tortillas.
Traditionally, wheat tortillas are made with hard red winter wheat, Hou said. Because of the preference for the white color of the product and consumer demand for whole-grain products, a new application may be found for soft white wheat, perhaps in a blend with higher-protein hard red winter wheat or hard red spring wheat.
"Maybe if we use a whole-grain flour with white wheat, the product will be better than the red wheat," he said.
In using the hard red wheat, Hou said, a reducing agent must be added to help the tortilla dough expand. The agent isn't necessary with a soft white blend, he said, and the dough can easily be expanded.
Center special projects representative Bob Waterman said the group is working with different blends of flour. As the market expands, Hou will work with different blends of soft wheat, spring wheat and winter wheat to demonstrate the ability to make a quality product.
"We can show savings in some blending of wheat," he said, noting the bottom line is important in good and bad economic times.
Waterman said he doesn't think the various wraps seen in the market, with different blends, have been fully explored yet. Blends using additives such as sun-dried tomatoes or basil in tortillas would still use the wheat flour, he said.
"I don't see where it's going to end in my lifetime," he said. "There's going to be continued expansion."
Hou said the center has demonstrated its capability of testing tortillas to a number of groups, both overseas and in the United States, and received a positive response.
Taiwan representatives were very interested, due to the growing interest in tortillas in their country, and they may send a group to the center in the future to learn more about new processing methods, he said.
Hou said the center has also demonstrated its new capability to its board of directors, U.S. grain growers and elevator operators.
Hou said the center will offer a whole wheat-flour development to millers and bakers from South Korea for one week in July, showing them the regular hard red winter wheat and various blends to demonstrate that different blends can make for better quality, color or expandability.
Source: Capital Press
By Matthew Weaver
With flour tortilla consumption on the rise, a Pacific Northwest wheat-marketing center is looking for ways to tap into the growing market.
The center recently purchased upscale equipment to make flour tortillas, said Gary Hou, technical manager for the Wheat Marketing Center.
Consumption of flour tortillas has grown dramatically in the last few years, Hou said.
Jim Kabbani, executive director of the Tortilla Industry Association, said tortillas outsold sliced sandwich bread in the United States in 2008.
Kabbani said part of the growth of the market can be attributed to the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, but that cannot account for all of it.
"The big driver is that there are large numbers of non-Hispanic Americans who are adopting healthier eating habits," he said.
Instead of putting something on two slices of bread for a sandwich, people roll it into a tortilla for a wrap, Kabbani said.
Most tortilla sales are evenly split between corn and wheat. The growth of corn tortilla sales is mostly among the Hispanic population, he said, while non-Hispanic populations generally purchase more wheat tortillas.
Traditionally, wheat tortillas are made with hard red winter wheat, Hou said. Because of the preference for the white color of the product and consumer demand for whole-grain products, a new application may be found for soft white wheat, perhaps in a blend with higher-protein hard red winter wheat or hard red spring wheat.
"Maybe if we use a whole-grain flour with white wheat, the product will be better than the red wheat," he said.
In using the hard red wheat, Hou said, a reducing agent must be added to help the tortilla dough expand. The agent isn't necessary with a soft white blend, he said, and the dough can easily be expanded.
Center special projects representative Bob Waterman said the group is working with different blends of flour. As the market expands, Hou will work with different blends of soft wheat, spring wheat and winter wheat to demonstrate the ability to make a quality product.
"We can show savings in some blending of wheat," he said, noting the bottom line is important in good and bad economic times.
Waterman said he doesn't think the various wraps seen in the market, with different blends, have been fully explored yet. Blends using additives such as sun-dried tomatoes or basil in tortillas would still use the wheat flour, he said.
"I don't see where it's going to end in my lifetime," he said. "There's going to be continued expansion."
Hou said the center has demonstrated its capability of testing tortillas to a number of groups, both overseas and in the United States, and received a positive response.
Taiwan representatives were very interested, due to the growing interest in tortillas in their country, and they may send a group to the center in the future to learn more about new processing methods, he said.
Hou said the center has also demonstrated its new capability to its board of directors, U.S. grain growers and elevator operators.
Hou said the center will offer a whole wheat-flour development to millers and bakers from South Korea for one week in July, showing them the regular hard red winter wheat and various blends to demonstrate that different blends can make for better quality, color or expandability.
Source: Capital Press
