Tortilla Chips

NEW! Cónico Cremoso Corn Tortilla Chips

Healthy Traditions is proud to bring you two styles of chips from our heirloom open pollinated Cónico Cremoso corn: Authentic Mexican Corn Tortilla Chips and Restaurant Style Corn Tortilla Chips! The Restaurant Style also comes in flavored varieties, besides plain.

Our Authentic Mexican Corn Tortilla Chips are hardy chips that will stand up to any guacamole, salsa, or nacho recipe you can bring.

Our Restaurant Style Corn Tortilla Chips are made from thinner tortillas and therefore have a lighter, more crispy texture. 

Both styles are made with our heirloom open pollinated GMO-tested Corn from Mexico and fried in our Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil! 

NOTE: The Authentic Mexican Corn Tortilla Chips are a bit heavier resulting in a slightly higher weight per bag, but the Restaurant Style Corn Tortilla Chips are a bit higher in volume (more chips) per bag even though they weigh less.

Made from GMO-tested and Glyphosate-tested Corn

We start by sourcing our corn from a farm in Central Mexico near what is thought to be the “birthplace” of corn.

We went to this region because GMO corn has been banned locally, therefore the risk of cross contamination from GMO corn is much lower. We also appreciate that the farmers grow corn from seed that has been passed down from generation to generation. 

Our new supplier of heirloom Mexican Cónico Cremoso corn this year is a cooperative from Mexico that sources Mexican heritage crops with a commitment to native small-scale family farmers in Mexico, with a commitment to the farmers, flavor, and biodiversity.

Their partner farmers cultivate a variety of heirloom corns that have been preserved through generations. They use agricultural systems that prioritize biodiversity, such as the milpa, to nurture these unique crops and the land.

Milpa is a field for growing food crops and a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica, especially in the Yucatán Peninsula, in Mexico.

The word milpa derives from the Nahuatl words milli and pan. Based on the agronomy of the Maya and of other Mesoamerican peoples, the milpa system is used to produce crops of maize, beans, and squash without employing artificial pesticides and artificial fertilizers.

The land-conservation cycle of the milpa is two years of cultivation and eight years of laying fallow.

In the Mexican states of Jalisco and Michoacán and in central Mexico as well as Guanacaste Province Costa Rica, as an agricultural term milpa denotes a single corn plant. 

The cooperative we work with cuts out intermediaries, and fosters long-term, trusting partnerships with farmers, their families, and their communities.

They buy the surplus heirloom corn from these farmers and their families, who grow these crops for their own consumption.

By working this way, they make sure to not deprive them of their sustenance and ancient food rites. They understand that these farmers are the stewards of Mexico’s biodiversity and their communities are life-supporting ecosystems unto themselves.

This cooperative actively listens, observes, and stands hand-in-hand with their partner farmers as they care for their land and their people. 

By using heirloom open pollinated corn we believe the real corn flavor comes through in our chip. The corn is grown without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, but as an added assurance we have lab tested samples from the farms, with no trace of GMOs or Glyphosate found in the batches we tested.

They honor the cultural practices and rituals they’ve passed down through generations, and learn from these powerful preservationists every day.

They help farmers calculate their total production costs and then mutually agree on a price that covers these costs and enables a net profit.

On average, farmers within this network receive 43% of the final selling price.

Healthy Traditions has sourced a Cónico Cremoso (cream color) native variety of corn from San Felipe del Progreso from the State of Mexico, commonly known as Edomex (from Estado de México), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country.

Authentic Tortillas Using "Nixtamalization" to Make "Masa"

Once we have the corn in the U.S. the corn is transformed into "masa," through the traditional Aztec process of nixtamalization. 

During this process the corn is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution of limewater (calcium hydroxide and water), which allows the husk to “slip” from the kernel. This process is beneficial in several ways. 

First, it allows bound nutrients such as niacin and iron to become bioavailable in the body.

Secondly, it removes virtually all the mycotoxin that can be present on corn. It also imparts calcium into the masa, as an added benefit, that wouldn’t be found in the corn alone.

However, the best result from this ancient Aztec tradition is the taste! The traditional corn flavor and texture hold true from the first bite to the last.

Once the corn has been nixtamalized, the wet kernels are then stone ground into masa dough and pressed into tortillas. The next stage is something you won’t find with very many tortilla chips and is part of what really makes our chips unique.

Fried in Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil

Once the tortillas are complete we then cut and fry them in our high quality Coconut Oil!

No more worrying if your chips have been fried in over-heated toxic oils. These chips are fried in an oil that brings out the natural corn flavor, and is not prone to oxidation due to heating.

We also add nutrient-dense Himalayan Pink Salt to give that right amount of saltiness. 

The simple ingredients are: Whole Corn, Coconut Oil, Himalayan Pink Salt, Lime/Calcium Hydroxide (processing aid during nixtamalization of corn).

Special Packaging

When Healthy Traditions began to look at producing products in the U.S. from traditional sources, food that tested clean from GMOs, Glyphosate, and other herbicides and pesticides, we were faced with a dilemma:

How do we package these high quality clean foods?

We began a search for packaging that did not contain harmful chemicals and was not harmful to the environment. What good is sourcing and selling high quality traditional food if it is going to be contaminated by the packaging?

The brown bags you see in our newest products, including our corn chips, reflect what we found was currently the best option for packaging our high-quality line of traditional products.

These bags harmlessly decompose anywhere that microbes are present (salt and fresh water, soil, landfills or in a backyard compost).

They decompose into organic matter without leaving any pollutants behind. (Independent Lab tests show - "None Detected.")

They have been lab tested for possible leaching of many heavy metals and pollutants, and none were found.

Shipped to you Fresh!

Our Authentic Mexican and Restaurant Style Corn Tortilla Chips are made in small batches to keep them as fresh as possible when they arrive to you. They are labeled with a “Sell By” date and will be good for weeks after this date, if unopened. Once opened, the convenient zipper closure will help keep your chips fresh for several days.

Our new Healthy Traditions Corn Tortilla Chips are:

• Cooked in Tropical Traditions coconut oil
• Corn that has been lab tested for the presence GMOs and Glyphosate
• Heirloom open pollinated corn grown on small family farms
• Made by the traditional Aztec method of nixtamalization
• From corn grown in Mexico and traceable back to the farm
• Made in small batches for freshness

Ingredients (non-flavored): Whole Corn, Coconut Oil, Himalayan Pink Salt, Lime/Calcium Hydroxide (processing aid during nixtamalization of corn)