A handmade love story
Sherry grew up in a loving, loud and large Mexican-American family that handed down the family tamale recipe and tamalada (tamale-making party) tradition. Making tamales is always a labor of love. Everyone has their job and in Sherry’s family home, her mother Celia orchestrated the traditional event like a true master. There was always laughter, teasing, storytelling, kids running around playing and laughing — and of course lots of tamales to share.
Todd’s first tamale-making experience started in Sherry’s family home with 5 bushels of corn, 25 pounds of freshly roasted green chilies, 18 friends and family and 5 cases of beer. He learned that day that people always count tamales by the dozen. After a 10 hour day of making tamales he was in love. He was already in love with Sherry, and now, he was in love with making tamales. In early 2008 Todd left his executive position at a Fortune 500 company to make tamales full time.
Later that year, Todd and Sherry founded Tucson Tamale. Inspired by family recipes they transformed this ancient Latin tradition with an eye on healthier and cleaner ingredients. Today, this husband and wife team continue to make award-winning tamales, spreading the joy one handmade tamale at a time.