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From corn to tortillaHow We Make Corn Tortillas
We make 50 kilos plus of fresh corn tortillas every day in Bangkok using nixtamalization.
We make 50 kilos plus of fresh corn tortillas everyday in Bangkok using Nixtamalization.
WHAT NIXTAMAL IS NOT
Nixtamal is not corn flour mixed with wheat flour. Our dough is 100% made of corn.
We don’t use additives in any of our products. As a result, you can enjoy a tortilla that is 100% natural, non-GMO, without preservatives, lard, vegetable shortening, gluten or salt.
In short, our natural corn tortillas are delicious and very nutritious!
How We Make Corn Tortillas
Our tortilla-making processes begins by selecting the best quality corn. The corn we use is organic, non-GMO, planted and harvested by environmentally-conscious farmers in Thailand on a weekly basis. The process involves five key steps:
Cooking
Cooking the corn in water and lime is the most important step the tortilla-making process because of its impact on the quality of the finished product. This process is called “nixtamalization” and has been practiced in Meso America for thousands of years. After cooking it, the corn sits from 8-12 hours to allow full absorption of the lime and water into the corn.
Cleaning
The nixtamalized corn is placed in a special washer which enables the cleaning process. The corn is washed at different rates, depending on the desired consistency.
Grinding
The cleaned corn is placed into a stone grinder and carefully monitored by trained staff to ensure that the ground corn is fine, moist and possess a perfect texture. The ground corn is called masa.
Kneading
Corn masa requires kneading so that it develops the perfect texture needed to make good-quality tortillas. We place our masa in a special mixer, adding water as necessary, and carefully monitoring the process.
Production
The ready masa is fed into a tortilla-making machine. The machine cuts the masa and funnels it through a conveyor belt that flattens into a tortilla. The tortilla winds through an enclosed oven that cooks it. The cooked tortilla is collected by our staff and packaged before delivering to our branches
As we can not find non gmo white corn kernels here in Bangkok. We ship a container of white corn 4 3/4 inch tortillas which are also available.
WHY WE MAKE OUR OWN TORTILLAS
At Sunrise Tacos, we don't buy our flour tortillas. We make them.
Because a tortilla isn't just a wrapper. It's the foundation.
You can have the best carnitas, the slow-cooked birria, the freshest pico — but if the tortilla cracks, tears, or tastes like the plastic bag it came in, the whole taco falls apart. Same with a burrito. The foundation has to hold.
A store-bought tortilla is made to survive shipping and sit on a shelf for months. Ours is made to be eaten today.
That's why every morning in our Bangkok kitchen, before service starts, we start with dough. We mix it fresh. No preservatives, no dough conditioners, nothing to make it last 6 months. Just flour, fat, water, salt.
Then we do what you see in these photos — we roll every ball by hand and weigh every single one, because size matters and precision is the foundation:
- 35g for our 6-inch — soft, small, and tender. The perfect two-bite street taco.
- 60g for our 10-inch — strong enough to hold, soft enough to fold. The everyday taco.
- 90g for our 12-inch — big, warm, and sturdy. Built to wrap a burrito and not break.
We press each one hot. You hear that hiss. You see it puff up for a second — that's how you know it's alive. Then we stack them warm and keep them covered under a towel, just like at home, so they stay soft and steamy until you order.
You can buy a tortilla anywhere. But you can't buy that fresh, just-made, slightly chewy, slightly crispy-on-the-edge bite. You have to make it.
We make it because we wouldn't put our food in anything we wouldn't be proud to serve on its own.
That's the Sunrise Tacos difference. It's all in the foundation.
Hungry?
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