Tamale Party

A friend of mine Anne, who left before I thought to take the above picture, asked me if I knew how to make tamales. Having never made tamales, I called my mom and asked her if she would teach me and a few friends how to make them.

Mom and I, well mainly my mom, prepared the beans and pork the day before. The afternoon of the event, I went to a Mexican grocery store and bought the masa, which is freshly ground corn mill. They literally took wet corn kernels and grounded them right before my eyes. It doesn't get fresher than that.

Once everyone arrived at 6pm, we seasoned and kneaded the corn dough. Then the real work began: We had to line and fill about 16 dozen corn husks with masa & it's filling (in our case beans,pork, & spinach and cheese).

Abigail had a hard time going down, so I just brought her to the tamale party.


My cousin Katie tied knots around the bean tamales so we could differentiate them from the pork tamales. The picture below has us filling the last few corn husks. The big container was completely full when we started.

We didn't finish until after 11pm that night. Beforehand, I don't think my friends realized the amount of work that went into these little delicacies, but once you sank your teeth into one it was all worth it. At least it was for me.

Growing up, I never fully appreciated all that went into making tamales. I would occasionally come in and help with them, but it was more of a chore than anything else. Although, I never thought I would say this, it has become one of my favorite things about my culture. An opportunity for women to talk, laugh and grow together while at the same time feeding their families. I am really grateful for all my mom's hard work and willingness to pass the skill down a generation. I hope to make this a tradition not only with my friends, but my girls.