Agave
Agave tequilana azul

The agave is a member of the succulent plant family that includes aloe and sisal. Agave, or mescal in Mexican Spanish, is also known as the century plant because it can live a long time. It lives at least forty years before it produces its flowering stalk and then dies. Agave is an important source of food and drink in Central Mexico, especially the state of Jalisco. Tequila comes from agave. The plant grows throughout the southwestern USA, Mexico and Central America. Poisonous when raw, it has a sweet, mild flavor when baked or made into syrup.

Agave harvest (image source)

Traditional agave core transport (image source)

Tequila (from Wikipedia) is only one type of mezcal, which is the name of any distilled alcohol made from the agave plant. What makes tequila different from other mezcals is its adherence to the strict standards set by the Tequila Regulatory Council (Mexican norm NOM-006-SCFI-1994), the region where it is made – Denominación de Origen regulations restrict its production to specific regions in the states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Tamaulipas and Nayarit – and the fact that tequila is made from Agave tequilana Weber, also called blue agave or agave azul. Tequila is required to be at least 51% agave; the remainder is usually maize or sugarcane. There are, however, premium tequilas made from 100% blue agave. If it is not made from 100% agave, tequila is referred to as mixto, although labels in the bottles will say only "Tequila". Tequila that is made only from agave must be bottled in Mexico and will say in the label "Tequila 100% de Agave" or "Tequila 100% puro de Agave" (some may add the word Azul after agave).

History: Tequila was first produced in the 16th century near the location of the city of Tequila which was not officially established until 1656. The Aztec people had previously made a fermented beverage from the agave plant which they called octli (later, and more popularly called pulque), long before the Spanish arrived in 1521. When the Spanish conquistadors ran out of their own brandy, they began to distill this agave drink to produce North America's first indigenous distilled spirit.[4]

Some 80 years later, around 1600, Don Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco. By 1608, the colonial governor of Nueva Galicia had begun to tax his products.

The tequila that is popular today was first mass-produced in the early 1800s in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Cutting the agave cores

Distillery oven loaded with agaves at the El Jimador tequila factory close to Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico Mit Agaven gefüllter Ofen in der Tequila-Fabrik von "El Jimador" in der Nähe von Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico(image source)

Photo of tequila facilities at Dona Engracia hacienda, Jalisco, Mexico,
taken November 2005 by Stan Shebs (image source)

Tequila drinks: A single shot of tequila is often served with salt and a slice of lemon or lime. This is called "tequila cruda" and is sometimes referred to as "training wheels". The drinker moistens the back of their hand below the index finger (usually by licking) and pours on the salt. Then the salt is licked off the hand, tequila is drunk and the fruit slice is quickly bitten. It is common for groups of drinkers to do this simultaneously. Though the traditional Mexican shot is straight tequila, lime is the fruit of choice when a chaser must be used.[1] The salt lessens the "burn" of the tequila and the sour fruit balances and enhances the flavor. This is rarely done with aged tequilas due to their smoother character. In Australia, a variation of this is called the Muddy. It consists of the salt lick, Tequila, and then followed by a shot of Pineapple Juice. The extreme variation in taste between the three ingrediants is delightful. This drink is very popular in the outback town of Chinchilla, where it is said to have been invented by musician Muddy Waters.

In Mexico, it is popular to drink fine tequila with a side of sangrita--a sweet, sour and spicy drink typically made from orange juice, grenadine (or tomato juice) and hot chiles. Equal-sized shots of tequila and sangrita are sipped alternately.

In Germany and some other countries, tequila is often consumed with cinnamon before and slices of orange after--substituting for the salt and lemon that are used elsewhere.

Agave Nectar

Blue Agave Nectar also called Agave Syrup, Weber Azul, Azul, Chino Azul, Honey Water, Aguamiel, and Agave Tequilana Var. Weber is a relatively new sweetener to the U.S., developed in the 1990s. The plant was used for thousands of years by the Mexican people for food, drink and clothing. Ancient Mexicans considered the plant sacred and believed the syrup purified the body and soul. When the Spaniards arrived, they fermented the blue agave nectar into Tequila, and that's been it's primary use until fairly recently. The sweetness of agave is now being used to satisfy our sweet tooth.

The Blue Agave Plant, also called the Maguey, or Century Plant is related to the Lily or Amaryllis and is native to Mexico. It lives where cactus do, but is not actually a cactus itself. It generally lives 8-15 years and only flowers once.

Premium Blue Agave plant is used to make premium Agave Syrup but there are also other agaves that are created from standard Agave plants, also called Rainbow varieties.

Agave is naturally "tapped" similar to the maple tree. Agave is harvested when the plant is about 10 years old and when it reaches about 6 feet tall and is 7-12 feet in diameter. That is when the sugar is at it's peak. The top of the plant is cut off and the core is removed. Once the leaves are removed from the core, the pina (it looks similar to a pineapple) can be anywhere from 70 - 100 pounds. The plant is then capped with a stone. Once that fruit develops, the plant dies and new ones are created from the base stem.

The pina is pressed, filtered, and collected. It is gently steamed or roasted for several days to break down the carbohydrates (primarily Fructose) into sugars. An enzyme is added to the milky juice transforming the liquid into the syrup that we know and use.

It is similar in consistency to honey but pours more easily. It dissolves readily in liquid. There are varieties including: Premium Dark, Premium Light, Standard Dark or Amber, Standard Light, and Raw Varieties of Agave syrup. It does have a slight but pleasant flavor to it; the lighter varieties are more neutral in flavor than the darker varieties.

Learn more about agave nectar and find recipes: Delicious Organics

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