In order to choose the best tortilla bowl, cooks and others who are shopping for these items should understand the ingredients that go into the corn or flour tortilla, as well as techniques for baking and how well these shells will store. Tortilla bowls are popular for fashioning a taco salad dish or similar Latin American food entrées, where the tortilla bowl acts as an attractive edible container. Different varieties of tortillas may vary in quality.
A major consideration for selecting superior tortilla bowl products is analysis of the ingredients that go into these shells. Buyers may want specific varieties, either corn tortillas or flour tortillas. The corn tortilla variety tends to be more crunchy, where flour tortillas are often smoother in terms of texture. Buyers might also want to consider whether the flour and other materials used are organic or naturally grown.
When shopping for the best tortilla bowls, it’s also important to understand how these items are made. Generally, the tortilla bowl is baked in a mold in order to provide the bowl shape. Depending on the manufacturer, some tortilla bowls may actually be processed in additional ways. In some store products, the natural materials, such as flour, may be mixed with fillers, including soy products, or other corn-based starches. The purest recipes tend to produce the best choices for tortilla bowls.
Other ingredients that may be added to tortilla bowls include preservatives. Some chemical additives will help these foods store better, but will take away from the overall nutrition and health value, according to some food science experts. It’s important to think about how long these items will need to be stored before use, in order to balance the need for storage with the ideal of choosing the most pure foods available.
Those who want to find the best tortilla bowls for a specific recipe should also try to predict whether a certain type of shells will hold up well in a particular use. For some recipes, like taco salad, the tortilla bowl does not have to be extremely durable. With other recipes such as heavier stew or soup type concoctions, shoppers may need a thicker shell that will stand up better to liquid or semi-liquid ingredients. With the right attention to detail during shopping, cooks can find the best tortilla bowls for presenting various kinds of taco salads or similar foods in attractive ways.