Tamales are as common on a Tucson holiday table as turkey and stuffing, but you might see fewer of them this season.
The cost of making tamales yourself has gone up, courtesy of mother nature. And local restaurants and retailers say that they might have to raise prices to cover the increased costs of beef and corn — two of the principal ingredients.
“We’re trying to hold off on (raising prices) during the holiday season, but I don’t know what’s going to happen after the first of the year,” said Rose Rivera, who owns Tania’s Flour Tortillas & Mexican Food, 2856 W. Drexel Road. She said she expects to sell as many as 800 dozen beef tamales now through late December at $16 a dozen, a price she said she anticipates will remain through the holidays.
Mike Hultquist, who owns Lerua’s Fine Mexican Foods at 2005 E. Broadway, said he is paying $5 to $6 for a dozen ears of fresh corn that he uses to make the masa in his signature green corn tamales. That’s nearly double the price he paid this time last year, he said.
“I’m hoping everything stays the same, but the farmers, God bless them, they’re in such a crapshoot business,” said Hultquist, whose family started Lerua’s in 1922. “They are putting hundreds of thousands of dollars in the dirt. What kind of risk is that?”
But it is the cost of beef that could dramatically drive up the price and put a damper on the holiday tradition of making homemade tamales.
Lauren Scheller, director of consumer marketing and public relations for the Phoenix-based Arizona Beef Council, said the higher prices are directly related to the state’s prolonged drought, which has reduced the grasslands that cattle feed on. As a result, it is taking longer to bring cattle to market; most cattle are not slaughtered until they are about 2 years old, she said.
State cattle ranchers also are trying to rebuild their herds so they aren’t taking as many cattle to market, she added, which has driven up prices.
“It’s a classic case of supply and demand,” Scheller said, with the added twist that while supply is down, “the demand is just as high. People love beef.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated beef prices have jumped nearly 35 percent in the past year. Boneless chuck averaged $3.24 this week compared to $2.37 this time last year. The increase is much higher in Arizona, where the price of the boneless chuck roast commonly used in tamales is $5.69 a pound at Tucson area Food City stores this week and $5.99 at Safeway locations.
Todd Martin goes through 700 to 800 pounds of beef at his three Tucson Tamale Company restaurants. He estimates he is paying 80 cents more a pound than he did earlier this year and his suppliers are telling him the increases are likely to continue.
“At some point, if the (costs) keep going up, we will have to raise prices,” he said.
Tucson Tamale Company will sell between 400,000 and 450,000 tamales from now until the end of the year, with the most popular being the holiday classic red chile beef, Martin said.
But home cooks can cut some corners, including buying pre-made masa. Food City, part of Bashas’ Family Stores with nine Tucson locations, has plain masa for 69 cents a pound and masa with chile for 99 cents a pound, a price that Bashas’ public relations manager Rob Johnson said is unchanged from last year.
The Beef Council’s Scheller also suggested buying beef in the larger family packs to reduce the per-pound cost.
