I had no Idea! The Wonder Plant of Aztec Mexico - Five Amazing Things I Learned about the Agave

 Everyone knows that tequila is made from agave, right? And, for me, because I care about the words we use, it’s always been confusing that some refer to “agave” and others use “maguey.” The tequila we imported, Jaliscience Embajador, touted being made from “blue weber agave”. But did I ever learn a lot about this amazing plant when we moved our activity to Puebla, Puebla.
Our new experiences came as a result of a question from an academic professor in Mexico: As importers of tequila, he asked, would we be interested in learning about another beverage ~ an ancient beverage~ being studied and improved by grad students at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in  Puebla? “Absolutely!” we responded! And we were off to Puebla, the capitol city of the state of Puebla, south east of Mexico City, to meet our next team of collaborators.

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 IPN (Instituto Polytéchnico Nacional in Spanish) is a postsecondary technical school system serving regions throughout Mexico. The role of IPN is to improve the quality of life in the states they serve by developing natural resources in those regions to benefit the life of its citizens and/or create a product for market. Sergio, our contact at IPN Puebla had a team of grad students with one major focus: to improve the quality of the ancient alcoholic beverage, pulque (POOL-kay) so that it might be exported to the U.S. Farmers in small villages throughout that region grew agaves and produced pulque in small batches for family and friends. But the question was, could there be a market outside Mexico for such an ancient drink? We were set to learn more about the maguey and the Aztecs!

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Here are five things I learned about that Wonder Plant:

1. People use both words interchangeably, but the Maguey is one of the many species of agave plants. While tequila is made from one species of the agave, pulque is made from an entirely different type which is grown primarily in the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo and the state of Mexico..
2. This plant has been a staple of life since the Aztec times. From thatch to clothing, its fleshy, fibrous leaves (las pencas) have served as basic material. We watched a worker demonstrate how the Aztecs used the giant thorn as sewing needle and thread. He gripped the thorn between his teeth and pulled it out along with a long string of fiber, ready for use. 
3. The undersides of las pencas are covered in a waxed-paper-like tissue. This tissue is stripped from the leaf and is used as a wrapper for meats in “mixiote” - a dish of meat and vegetables. The tissue contains a meat tenderizer that softens and flavors the dish.

4. The unfortunate penca can also be home to the “gusano” or larva of a local butterfly. The butterfly lays eggs in the plant and when hatched, the larva eats its way through the leaf to the outside world. People gather the gusanos to sell to restaurants or eat at home - raw or fried up in a whole variety of sauces. They search for small holes on the outside of the leaves, and pick the gusano out using the thorns pulled from the tip. Restaurants serve them with garlic sauce, green sauce, salt and lime, with tacos, with rice, just to name a few. And they’re good for you…highly nutritious! One serving contains as many calories as two plates of rice!

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5. When the interior of the plant is cleared of pencas and scraped, the juices that collect in the bowl are the source of material for the ancient Aztec drink called pulque (octli in Aztec). In Spanish, that liquid is called "aguamiel" or honey water. Once fermented, it becomes the much storied pulque. Legends have been written about it. The Aztecs revered it through a Goddess of pulque. It’s a product full of vitamins, minerals and when reduced to gel has been known to relieve arthritis among other ailments. 
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This is, indeed, a Wonder Plant! And this was only the beginning!

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