About Us

Handmade Love
- by Todd Martin

Being a lover of food my whole life and cooking since I can remember I’m always on the lookout for new food experiences. So, 14 years ago when my wife (she was my girlfriend at the time) said, we’re going over to my parent’s tomorrow morning to make tamales, I was excited. We arrived at 8 a.m. to an incredible sight, 5 bushels of corn, 25 pounds of freshly roasted green chilies, 18 friends and family and 5 cases of beer. After a full 10 hour day of making tamales I was in love (was it the beer?). We were going to make green corn tamales! I was already in love with Sherry, now I was in love with making tamales.
 
There’s a connectedness to making tamales. Like planting your garden. The feel of the damp soil sifting through your fingers. When making tamales there’s nothing like the feel of freshly prepared masa being gently patted onto the smooth side of a corn husk. As you roll the tamal and tuck one side of the husk under the other you are in awe of the beauty you just created. It’s hard work but the rewards are well worth it. In my restaurant journeys I found many a delicious green corn tamale but little else to satisfy my craving for a really, really good tamale. So I did what so many others do, you make it yourself.

Motivated by my need for something out of the ordinary I started making my own.  Friends and family would come over and rave about the incredible tamales.  They wanted some to take home but we hardly ever had leftovers. I have over 25 different tamales in my ‘portfolio’ (my online nickname is ‘cornartist’ look for me on twitter) and am always trying new things.  In early 2008 I made the decision to leave my executive position at a fortune 500 company to make my tamales for everyone.
 
On November 21st, 2008 the Tucson Tamale Company opened the doors and the rave reviews keep coming in. We do all the hard work so you can enjoy incredible tamales.  We make every batch of filling using the best ingredients we can find. Every tamale is hand rolled and gently steamed. Tamales are the perfect food in that they are just as good, if not better, after they have been re-steamed.  And we also have some of the best salsas you’ll ever have.  I know you’ll love them.

 

Our Ingredients

We take pride in the high quality and consistency of our delicious tamales.  It all starts with the masa.   The corn we use in our masa is organic and non-gmo.  Many tamales are made with lard and we decided we wanted a healthier version so we use non-gmo expeller pressed canola or sunflower oil.  We don’t use lard, We make everything ourselves – and you can taste the difference.
 
In addition to the “traditional” tamales many have been raised with, we also enjoy mixing it up and discovering some pretty amazing flavors.  We make a yellow curry tamale with organic vegetables.  In November, we make a Thanksgiving tamale that has become a tradition for many.  Fresh roasted turkey meat with onion, celery and carrots wrapped in an amazing sage masa.  

 

Unwrap Happiness

Happiness sometimes comes in the most unexpected ways.  We love to hear from customers about how they discovered our tamales.  Our tamales are naturally gluten free and because we don’t use lard, we make many vegetarian and vegan varieties. There are countless stories from families that have different dietary needs (vegan, gluten free, lactose intolerance or committed carnivores ) that can finally sit down and and enjoy a meal together.   We spread the happiness all over the nation by shipping tamales straight to your door.  So, unwrap some happiness and enjoy your tamales.