Enjoy tamales long after jingle bells fade

With the magical aroma of masa and meat wafting through homes across the city, nothing says the holidays in San Antonio quite like tamales. Whether made at home during an annual tamalada, picked up at the store or slyly purchased from a cooler in a parking lot, countless thousands of tamales will be joyously consumed during the Christmas season here.

But unless you have the appetite of an army on the march, there’s a good chance you’ll have oodles of tamales left over once the festivities have ended. Fortunately, with a little know-how you can make those corn huskswaddled delights last well into the new year.

Tamales have a relatively short shelf life in the refrigerator. They’ll only be at their best for about three days wrapped in their husks and placed in a plastic bag or other airtight container. After that, they run the risk of becoming overly dry and brittle, although they won’t start spoiling until the one-week mark.

A better option for long-term storage is the freezer. Tamales freeze, thaw and reheat quite well if handled properly.

The secret is to avoid letting the tamales come in contact with the frigid air of the freezer, which will cause them to dry out and form jagged ice crystals in the masa and fillings, damaging their texture.

If you bought tamales in foilwrapped bundles, just wrap those, foil and all, in a layer of plastic wrap and place that inside a sealable plastic bag with as much air squeezed out as possible to stave off freezer burn. Handle unbundled tamales the same way, leaving the husks on and tightly wrapping them in plastic before bagging. For easy individual servings, wrap the tamales one by one or in pairs in plastic before bagging and freezing.

Tamales can be safely stored in the freezer indefinitely, but the quality will begin to suffer after roughly six months.

A slow thaw in the refrigerator will best preserve the texture of tamales. Place the bag of tamales in the fridge the night before you intend to reheat them so they have enough time to thaw completely. If you’re in a hurry, you can use the defrost setting on your microwave, although the results won’t be as good.

A steamer is the best method for reheating thawed tamales. Place the tamales, still wrapped in their husks, in a steamer basket or a rack over about an inch of water in a large pot. Bring that water to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pot. The hard part here is patience. Depending on how crowded the

steamer basket is, it’ll take 10 minutes or more to heat the tamales all the way through.

A microwave can also be used to reheat tamales if you re-create the environment of a steamer.

To do that, place the tamales, still in their husks, inside a loosely closed plastic bag along with a tablespoon or so of water. Microwave that bag of goodness on high two to five minutes, depending

on the quantity. Check them every minute or so, jostling the tamales around a bit, to ensure they heat evenly.

Celeste Noche / Special to The Chronicle If properly stored, tamales can last six months or more in the freezer.