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Tamale Wrappers?

geeme

geeme

It seems most common to use dried corn husks when making tamales, but I began wondering about alternatives, given it's hard to get dried corn husks here. I'm planning on starting to dry my own when corn on the cob is available (which it's started to be recently.) But then I started wondering about other options. Like does anyone know of a reason not to just use fresh corn husks? Any reason why I can't get corn on the cob, rip the husks off, and immediately use them to make tamales without first drying them?

Any other thoughts on alternative wrappers? Banana leaf, etc....... Found "tamale paper" (vegetable parchment) online, but haven't seen it here, either.
 
They should sell the wrappers in the Mexican Food section of your local grocer.... they do here. Check by the tortillas.
 
Phil said:
They should sell the wrappers in the Mexican Food section of your local grocer.... they do here. Check by the tortillas.
Click to expand...
Yeah - SHOULD - but don't. This area is apparently too deep in the heart of the midwest to rate dried corn husks at regular grocers', which is why I'm going to be drying my own. There used to be a Mexican grocer in the area, but it's since closed down. There are a couple on the other side of downtown, which is a longer haul than I want to make just for corn husks.
 
Someone Help A Girl Out! For probably $3 shipping someone can send some on over to you. Maybe SoFlo can send you some banana leaves. :lol: Other than that, I don't see why fresh corn husks wouldn't work. They'd be supple enough, might have to soak them a little if their a little dry.
 
I Do, but geeme doesn't. Previous posts talked about that.
 
Yes, tamales are made with banana (plantian) leaves, in Colombia. Remember though, the dried corn husks add permeability and flavor. The water wicks out, and you get that toasty corn flavor as well. Try a banana one. It is wetter and you don't get that "toasted" (trying to think of the best word) corn flavor. The consistency difference is they are both moist (or should be), but the banana leaf one is wetter since the water does not wick. They are almost more like a pudding (think bread pudding) where a Mexican one is moist but solid and the surface is not wet.

I like both versions.

PS. I don't think you'll get the toasty flavor with fresh husks and also they may not be permeable. Not sure! But they would probably work more like the banana leaf.
 
Looks like on Amazon you can get 1 lb of corn husks for $15 which translates to about 75 according to the comments. I'll take a look at the Mexican market next time I'm in town & I'll see if I can't find some for cheaper to send your way Geeme.
 
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Plah! Mexican tamales are made with dried corn husks. A fresh corn husk is too moist to use for tamales.
I have two packages of them here G. you need some?
 
$15 ??? YIKES! I just picked up some at the Hispanic market for about $2/ large bag (about the size of produce bags)--- 1 pound.
 
G, if you have fresh corn on the cob, how long would it really take to dry the husks? A day if you have a dehydrator or a week if you don't?
 
You can wrap them in foil (flat) and put them on top of the coals for about 15 minutes, then unwrap, and put on the upper grill for 30 minutes, and they are dried.
 
Geeme
I'm headed back to phoenix next sunday pm me if you dont have any by then .. we have them there literally in every store.. here in virginia they have no clue what a tamale is.. the store manage at one store had to look them up on the internet...
as i have said many times.. some ppl are clueless about good mexican food.
Steve
 
There ya go...NM Howard can hook geeme up. ;) :lol: Any number of our amigo's more southern than the 45th parallel could probably help out. :lol:

geeme, I knowhow it is to have the inspiration and not be able to find the components. Aw well, that's what makes it exciting! Adapt, overcome....
 
Tamales are wrapped in banana leaves in the Yucatan. That IS Mexico, but most of us know the more northern Mexico tamales made with dried corn husks. I can't believe you can't find them there. Ours are stocked right next to the spices in SoFlo.

I agree with THP on the corn husk vs. the banana leaf. The corn husk wicks water (even though tamales are steamed), and the banana leaf traps water. If I went for ANY alternative method, parchment paper is probably your best bet. It will wick and it won't burn under those conditions. Remember, tamales are only steamed for about 12-15 minutes. If there is any meat or roasted veggies added... that's all done prior to the wrapping and steaming process.
 
Update- I checked the receipt and the husks I just got were $7.99. Obviously, I wasn't paying attention when shopping. :doh: SumBits, the recipes I've seen call for steaming an hour or more. I've never made them myself, couldn't say for sure. Seems like I remember Jamie using a pressure cooker and cooking for 30-40 minutes. I'd better do a test batch~
 
You're right SL. I don't know what I was thinking. I just read my tamale recipe in a previous throwdown and I steamed for ~ 1 hour. Whoops.

And I just noticed that I steamed my Ramen tamales for 30 minutes, but ramen is different than masa.
 
Thanks for all the input. Like I said, I'll be drying my own, but just started wondering about alternatives since you can't always get fresh corn on the cob. I can get frozen banana leaves at one of the local Asian stores, so will be giving that a try, too. I just didn't see ordering something like corn husks off the interwebz unless I really had to (or had something else to order along with), and I don't absolutely have to. I wasn't thinking of anything other than banana leaves, so wondered what other folks might have tried. I may try them with grape leaves, too, since I still have half a jar of those left.
 
In the JayTeeing I did for this TD, I came across "tamal". It seems that tamal is singular, tamales is plural, so saying tah-mahl-ee (tamale) in reference to a singular is incorrect? Anyone know?
 
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