What Is Masa?

What Is Masa?

Have you ever enjoyed a corn tortilla? Tamales? How about a tostada, sope, or pupusa? If you answered yes to any one of these, ¡salud! You’re already a card-carrying member of the masa club. Masa is the Spanish word for dough. But if you’re using the word anywhere in Mexico, Central America, or even the United States, it specifically refers to the special dough prepared from stone-ground, nixtamalized corn. It’s an ancient, flavor-packed superfood that forms the building block of hundreds of dishes found throughout Latin American cuisine, from tetelas to tlacoyos, arepas to atole, and of course … the taco.