Process of making tequila

Blue Agave, for making tequila - This is the plant used in the making of tequila. The leaves are shaved off and the heart cooked for 36 hours in clay ovens (or six to eight hours in microwaves) before the juices are extracted, fermented, and then distilled (twice for tequila)
@Qaeyious (2361)
United States
July 23, 2009 1:00am CST
I attended a "Tequila Dinner" that included a harvester from Mexico who demonstrated the harvesting process of the agave plant. He had a mature plant with him, and he used a tool that looked like a long stick with a circular blade at the end, and shaved the leaves off, leaving the "heart" or "pineapple" for later cooking. Traditionally the cooking is done in clay ovens for 36 hours, but some companies use microwave that takes just six to eight hours. The juice is extracted and is allowed to ferment. When sold after this process, it is not tequila, but "pulque."If it is distilled once, it is "mezcal," and it is either pulque or mezcal you will find the worm. Not until it is distilled twice is it allowed the name, "tequila," along with being produced in the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacan, Guanajuato, and Tamaulipas of Mexico.
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