Yakima Valley Joins Tortilla Boom

YAKIMA - As the tortilla becomes more popular in the United States, companies in the Yakima Valley are benefiting.

George Cahoon, president of El Ranchito in Zillah, says up to 80 percent of his production used to be corn tortillas, native for untold centuries to indigenous central and south Mexico and favored by the valley's large Hispanic population.

Today, about 65 percent of the 96,000 tortillas produced daily by El Ranchito, the largest tortilla manufacturer in the valley, are wheat-flour tortillas that are more popular with non-Hispanics.

El Ranchito is preparing to market a fat-free flour tortilla. The basic corn tortilla has no fat or cholesterol.

U.S. tortilla consumption is growing more than 10 percent per year, and sales are expected to surpass $2.5 billion this year, according to the Tortilla Industry Association of Encino, Calif. "They are the fastest growing bread product in the United States by far," says the association's Irwin Steinberg.

As the market grows, large companies are being attracted to the business. Tyson Foods, the Arkansas chicken giant, supplies the tortilla needs of Taco Bell and is the second largest manufacturer in the United States. Mission Foods Corp., the largest tortilla maker, owns a plant in McMinnville, Ore., marketing in the Northwest under the Diane's brand.

El Ranchito was purchased in 1993 by the Ness Holding Co. of Portland and distributes its line of products in seven Northwest

states.

Save On Foods in Sunnyside manufactures its own tortillas, which are sold in the store. But it uses corn flour rather than baking the corn in the traditional way because of a lack of space.

One who has opted for the old-fashioned way is Hector Tapia, who manages Ruben's Tortilleria y Panaderia in Yakima, the newest local tortilla manufacturer.