Forget the fruitcake. A Plano business has another idea to fill your plate this Christmas.
The Aparicio family has been serving up tamales at Plano Tortilla and Tamale Factory for the past 30 years, and this year is as busy as ever.
"This is our bread and butter. This is our fun time of year," co-owner Chris Aparicio said.
The process starts from scratch with corn that makes dough called masa.
A machine then stuffs the masa with meat, beans or cheese and sends it down a conveyor belt.
One-by-one, the tamales are wrapped in corn husks. They're steamed, bagged and sold by the dozen.
"We produce, day in day out, tamales. That's all we do," Aparicio said.
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The recipe has been in the Aparicio family for generations.
Chris Aparicio and his mom, Martina, say sales have increased in recent years as more people adopt what started out as a Hispanic family tradition.
"The way we used to do it, we'd all get together, all the women would get together and make tamales Christmas Eve, and that's why the tradition started," Martina Aparicio said.
At the Tamale Factory, a machine is used to crank out orders faster.
Workers will make an estimated 300,000 tamales this holiday season.
"Tamales are becoming sort of the new fruitcake and everybody has to have their dozen tamales, or they give them for gifts. They make wonderful gifts,” Chris Aparicio said.
Their advice if you still want to get your hands on an order: call ahead to see what's left.
Facebook: Plano Tortilla and Tamale Factory
