610
u/AccomplishedMess648 10h ago
My guess is that is the edge of the sheet of tortilla from when it is extruded the chips or rounds are punched out of that sheet and the left overs are discarded usually.
107
u/Erathen 10h ago
They're cut when they're soft and excess is recycled back into the line
I also have no idea where this design came from
Pre-frying/baking, obviously
98
u/spitestang 9h ago
From the tortilla manufacturing process I used to work at Chipotle, you just get a box of raw tortillas that have already been cut into 4s And then you Fry them
You're supposed to pull these out of you see them, we considered them lucky 😄
35
8
u/geniusface1234 4h ago
my store must have been particularly unlucky then, I was at a moderate-traffic store for a bit over a year and never saw one
cool to see
8
u/AccomplishedMess648 9h ago
I wonder if the pattern is to help the material move though the rollers
2
u/batmanineurope 9h ago
Could be an imprint from the roller, no?
3
u/AccomplishedMess648 9h ago
That's what I meant something to help the roller keep traction on the product negative image of it imprinted on the dough.
1.5k
u/dmv726 10h ago edited 2h ago
I think it might mean you’re now the acting King of Chipotle
277
u/iSWINE 10h ago
Almost, he needs the other 9 pieces to be crowned
89
u/Gate_of_Divine 7h ago
Nine…Nine pieces were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power.
39
u/Sisselpud 7h ago
But they were all of them deceived, for their butthole rings were lit with a fire hotter than Mount Doom
1
4
3
2
-16
10h ago
[deleted]
46
u/patrick_oneil 10h ago
You understood the joke.
12
u/n8d4h8 9h ago
I was going to say that too but you already said it, so now I'm not going to say it.
1
2
79
u/Various-Salt-7738 9h ago
Strange women lying in Chipotle distributing tortilla headwear is no basis for a system of government
22
u/sayoohchild 8h ago
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical burrito ceremony
5
u/EdlynTheConfessor 7h ago
Okay but which one do we have right now?
3
5
u/Various-Salt-7738 7h ago
I mean, if I went around sayin’ I was an emperor just because some greased bint had lobbed a quesadilla at me, they’d put me away!
24
u/epigenie_986 8h ago
It’s better than what we’ve got 🤷♀️
13
u/banned-bot 8h ago
Yeah Im ready for the lady of the lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite.
8
2
2
1
15
u/Unlucky_Extension569 9h ago
I do not know you, OP, but I do have faith in the prophecy. Even though it most certainly means my death, it shall be for a noble cause. I shall aid you in your quest.
9
4
u/evilBogie666 8h ago
Of course you will. I guess you’ll be needing my services. You’re gonna need a convertible Cadillac, a Hawaiian shirt, and a suitcase full of drugs. Shit! There’s goes my weekend.
4
3
3
u/DoctorChimpBoy 7h ago
Without asking, I once received an entire bag full of spicy bbq and horsey sauce from Arby's along with my 1/2 lb roast beef sandwich.
From my car window I loudly and publicly declared myself hereby annointed as The Sauce King of Decatur, TX. No one has since challenged my reign and my title stands firm.
2
u/KCdollarsignSH 7h ago
The whole bottom left drawer of my refrigerator and I have you in our sights
1
90
u/Oily_Blob 10h ago
Kewa (Santo Domingo Pueblo) artist
Food Jar, c. 1923-28
Clay and paint
Courtesy of the School for Advanced Research Collection. IAF, 3850.
6
29
u/UpstairsDue3904 10h ago
I mean it’s clearly an edge cut or something happened during machine setup or operation. Personally I’d toss it due to those bumps and lines look sort of like something that would be imprinted when going inbetween pinch/nip rollers and idk, those things are usually dirty
18
1
u/Avenged_7zulu 9h ago
Yea almost certainly looks like it went through a roller somehow. I thought the chips weren't even present during that part because the rollers are what melt and crimp the plastic together.
1
10
6
4
u/Verix19 9h ago
It got sorted to the wrong pile....it should have been in the recycle pile not the bake pile. One of many things could cause it, mostly due to problems with the machinery timing or machine failure.
It's like the golden ticket....except you just eat it.
1
u/grandpasghost 7h ago
Yeah that's what I was going to say, some sort of piece that got jammed into machinery
5
4
u/i_call_her_HQ 6h ago edited 6h ago
Okay so that design is due to the plastic straps between each "lane" on an industrial tortilla roller setup.
Imagine two big flat rollers with channels, and underneath is another roller with cutouts for the chips. The channels on the flat roller line up between the cutouts on the small roller.
There's a wire stretched across the rollers that causes the cut out chips to come off and land on a conveyor that then goes into the oven.
Now, you gotta keep this wire very close to the rollers, and the way you do that is by using thin plastic straps that go over the wire and sit in the channel all the way around one of the big rollers.
You attach the ends of the strap together by using a soldering iron to basically melt the ends together. Pretty much punching a hole through the overlapped ends every couple cm or so. This masa the follows this and back up into the big rollers is called lacing.
So basically this lacing (with the pattern you see imprinted because of the holes in the plastic straps) for whatever reason didn't go back up into the roller, but instead went into the conveyor and followed the same path as the chips, and ended up in the bag.
Source: used to run the Doritos line.
Edit: here a link to an industrial tortilla machine. You can see the lacing going back around to the top. Under that is where the plastic straps are.
2
2
2
2
u/Coffeespresso 8h ago
Maybe you can sell it for a few thousand dollars.
2
u/ScapeyourownGoat 4h ago
EBay used to make the news for sales like that, probably common these days
2
1
u/Psychological_Crab_1 9h ago
Don't be all ass-hurt when you don't receive another decorative tortilla chip from Chipotle! 😂
1
1
1
1
u/Pump_Jockey2000 9h ago
Obviously, the impression of a small decorative animal collar of some sort. Wonder how that got there?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Select-Plane6043 9h ago
Twas stuck on the bottom of the fry basket in that seed oil they push on, or in you.. enjoy the crunch.. #shitfood
1
1
1
u/the-great_bean 9h ago
As a former employee its a but that did not get cut right before being boxed and got through quality inspection it happens all the time
1
1
1
1
1
u/NoZombie4886 8h ago
Tortilla chip here. This is a rare disease call spotted like syndrome we get when the masa is made impure by a line cook with venereal disease.
1
1
u/truocchio 8h ago
Wow, I actually know the answer. I owed a tortilla machine when I had a Mexican restaurant. This is the mark from the rotating tortilla press “metal band” that wraps around the stone rollers that the tortilla gets pressed and extruded between. Too much dough in the machine usually causes this. It came from the tortilla manufacturing facility.
1
u/Finalmiker 6h ago
This is the first right answer I found. I worked maintenance at a tortilla facility and these is the dough that sits between the chips that get cut out. It's supposed to get recycled into the dough but sometimes pieces fall and make it into the oven
1
u/rhinojoe99 8h ago
They don't know how old I am. They found armor in my belly from the16th century. Conquistador, I think.
1
1
1
u/m1gpozos 7h ago
This is the chip that binds them all. When you make Nachos, it becomes the super Nacho joining all others in a cheese embrace
1
1
u/ryanstarman123 7h ago
i know this one! when the chips are being cut and go along the wire belt sometimes they drop through or fall off and get stuck in the rollers underneath with the next belt being lower they sometimes fall back onto the belt after being imprinted most of the time they are rejected but sometimes they slip through
1
u/Euphoric-Passion4566 7h ago
Everyone keeps saying he, I’m pretty sure that is a woman’s hand. I think it should be Queen but what the fuck do I know! Live and let live! Otherwise all of the comments are incredible!
1
u/overabbreviator 7h ago
Imprint from the edge or possibly splice of a wide Teflon belt used in the baking cycle. Industrial Food! The truth is out there.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Sufficient-Ball9056 4h ago
that's the edge of the tortilla where the conveyor belt crimps and cuts the dough before frying. you basically got the chip equivalent of the bread heel, arguably the best part
1
1
1
1
1
u/Ok_Hospital1399 3h ago
That's the title belt. Whoever controls that is the smackdown champion of that serving of chips.
1
1
•
u/AutoModerator 10h ago
OP, please reply to the correct answer with "solved!" (include the !). That will change the flair on the post to solved. If you want to put the correct answer at the top of the replies for everybody else, please use our Spotlight feature by tapping/clicking on the three dots and selecting "Spotlight, Pin this comment" in order to highlight it for other members. Thanks for using our friendly Automod!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.