Editor’s note: The interview for this story was conducted in Spanish and translated into English.
Beato Ortiz Hernández was born with the tortilla. As a kid in the Mexican state of Guerrero, he said tortillas were never missing from a meal.
“I am Mexican, and I know other Latinos also eat tortillas,” Ortiz Hernández said. “Tortillas are in our blood.”
Tortillerias or tortilla factories were hard to find when he immigrated to Richmond in 2000 at the age of 15.
“I always want to be original. I always want something different. That's why I decided to come up with my own brand and my own formula and everything,” Ortiz Hernández said.
So, when the opportunity came to open up his first tortilla shop, he did just that. Four stores later, Tortilleria Mixteca on Nine Mile Road in Henrico County is Virginia’s first large-scale tortilla manufacturing factory.
The factory, located behind the restaurant, produces over 80,000 tortillas weekly and employs eight people.
It all starts with maíz or corn imported from Guerrero. Ortiz Hernández said this is an important link in the chain and a way to give back to farmers where he grew up.
The corn is vital because it is cooked using the ancient process of Nixtamalization — which involves soaking in calcium hydroxide — in a nod to Ortiz Hernández’s roots.
“Nixtamal is when you put the corn, add [pickling] lime and cook it,” he explained. “One washes it and passes it to the mill, and that is where it is ground and the dough is ready to make tortillas.”
The corn is ground using a special Nixtamal mill, which has a volcanic rock attached.
Ortiz Hernández also imported all his shop’s machinery from Mexico.
The result? Tortillas with a perfect balance of earthy, sweet and nutty flavors.
And he said this isn’t just about making tortillas for him: It’s about celebrating his identity and providing customers with a taste of home.
“This is a way for people to get to know our culture, our Mixtecan culture, because we are indigenous Mixtecos,” he said. “Everything from the logo to what makes the tortilla -- well, it has something that’s from the mountains of Guerreo and that’s La Mixteca.”
