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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Loving me some Tortilla history

I absolutely love tortillas. Tortillas can be used for countless reasons. Some of these reasons include: burritos, quick snacks, or wraps. My favorite kind of tortillas are uncooked tortillas. The reasons why uncooked tortillas are my favorite are because of two reasons. First, they are quick and convenient. Second, they are the freshest version of tortillas out there. My favorite brand of uncooked tortillas is "Tortilla Land". After looking at the package of uncooked tortillas, it is easy to identify that Tortilla Land uncooked tortillas are manufactured by Circle Foods in San Diego, California.

Circle foods has been on the scene for making quality foods for over 25 years. Circle foods has been praised for their quality food and facilities being "awarded Level 3 SQF certification, the highest standard of food safety and quality."(About). But the first tortilla did not originate just 25 years ago.

Tortillas are said to date back over 10,000 years before Christ. Tortillas were a vital food source for many civilizations. Some of these civilizations included: Aztecs of Meso-America, Spanish conquerors, and many other ancient civilizations. () Anciently Tortillas are made from finely stone ground corn or wheat. The corn meal or wheat was then soaked in water or lime juice creating what was called "masa". Masa would be best described as a cornmeal dough. The masa was then patted down into a flattened shape, and cooked on a griddle creating a tortilla.

This process of grounding, soaking, flattening, and cooking sounds very tasking. Comparative to me, today, cooking tortillas from an all ready flatten tortilla package. The process today is uniquely different compared to the process I described earlier. Many machines have taken the place of ancient women and grinding stones. Machines today can produce anywhere up to 60,000 tortillas an hour! Tortillas still remain a stable food in many parts of the world such as: Mexico, Central America, and have grown in popularity in the United States.

Even after many years, tortillas still are made from the same general ingredients. I will probably buy, make, and eat tortillas for the rest of my life. Tortillas, admittedly, would not be what they are today if it was not for farmers. Like I said before, tortillas main ingredient anciently was corn. Meaning the people that first discovered, or made tortillas were farmers. People anciently had to understand and know how to cultivate crops of corn to produce the food supply that was a staple in their existence.

 I found it very easy to find information about tortillas and to tie the roots back to its origination. The information I found did not surprise me, it honestly made me appreciate the product more. Gaining knowledge on what you eat and where it came from; makes you show a little more appreciation for what you eat everyday.

Sources:

 About us. (2015). Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.circlefoods.com/about-us/ 

 History of the Tortilla. (2015). Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.latortillaloca.com/History.htm 

 Tortilla. (2015, September 23). Retrieved September 27, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortilla 

Sunday, September 13, 2015

An Ancestor From the Dust.

If you were to ask me the question: "Do you have anyone in your family that farms?" My answer would of been a unsure: "no?" Upon asking my parents the same question, I was able to receive a more productive response. My father supplied me ancestral knowledge; dating all the way back to the 1800's! I never knew I had a ancestor who farmed, or that farmed that long ago. My ancestor from the dust that farmed was, Erastus Snow.

Snow was heavily involved in the history of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spending most of his years in service of the church. In 1861 he was appointed to be head of the "Southern Utah Mormon Settlements"("Snow"). Snow began settling Southern Utah by spending a lucrative amount of his time farming. Snow raised: alfalfa, corn, cows, hogs, and many other agricultural resources.

In the book: "Erastus Snow, The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church", In summary Andrew Karl Larson relates a story that tells of Snows determination to be known as a hard worker. Because of Snows rigurous schedule of church duties, Snow did not have a lot of time to work on his own. Snow was later criticized for using church funds and not working himself.  Brigham Young his leader, asked Snow to work to supply for his family just as the other settlers in St.George, Utah did. Sometime later, a meeting was being held and Snow was to be present in the meeting. Young being anxious sent for some one to find Snow. The book reads: "Brigham finally sent one of the brethren to get him. He found the apostle in his working clothes loading manure at the corral. "Why aren't you at the meeting?" the brother inquired. "Brother Brigham wants you there." Erastus answered mildly enough. "You tell Brother Brigham that if he wants me, he knows where to find me.""("Larson" pg.609). Upon hearing the news of the conversation between the two, Brigham later found Erastus and asked him what he was doing. Erastus answered: "I'm doing what you said I should be doing: working to support my family.""("Larson" pg. 609).

Throughout the 1860's Snow continued to settle and cultivate Southern Utah. During this cultivation the American Civil War broke out. Even with the break out of the war, Snow was minimally effected. With Utah not being a slave state, Utah was not admitted into the war.

Snow continued to serve faithfully in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as a farmer, until the day of his death. There has been many of my ancestors, whom I never thought existed that farmed; Each becoming a new hero in my eyes. As they cultivated their lives in the dirt, they  cultivated my life today. I will always be indebted to my "Ancestors From the Dust".




Work Cited:
 "Erastus Snow." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 11 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erastus_Snow>. 

 Larson, Andrew. Erastus Snow: The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church. Vol. 1. Salt Lake City: U of Utah. 609. Print. 


Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Welcome to my blog! My name is Paul, I am a student at Utah State University, and on this blog I will be talking about everything farming. I will post multiple times in the coming months about my view points, opinions, facts, and what I have learned about farming. I hope as you read my posts and updates you can grow a greater appreciation and knowledge of farming, and the purpose it serves to the world.