| Tequila agave | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| clade: | Angiosperms |
| clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asparagaceae |
| Subfamily: | Agavoideae |
| Genus: | Agave |
| Species: | A. tequilana |
| Binomial name | |
| Agave tequilana F.A.C. Weber |
|
Agave tequilana, commonly called blue agave (agave azul), tequila agave, mezcal or maguey is an agave plant that is an important economic product of Jalisco, Mexico, due to its role as the base ingredient of tequila, a popular distilled spirit. The high production of sugars, mostly in the form of fructose, in the core of this plant is the most important characteristic of the plant, making it suitable for the preparation of alcoholic beverages.
The tequila agave is a native of Jalisco, Mexico. The plant favors high altitudes of more than 1,500 meters and grows in rich and sandy soils. While commercial and wild agaves have different life cycles, both grow into large succulents, with spiky fleshy leaves, that can reach over two meters in height. Agaves sprout a stalk (quiote) when about five years old that can grow an additional five meters and are topped with yellow flowers. This stalk is cut off from commercial plants so that the plant will put more energy into the heart.[1]
The flowers are pollinated by a native bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) and produce several thousand seeds per plant. The plant then dies. The shoots on commercial plants are removed when about a year old to allow the heart to grow larger. The plants are then reproduced by planting these shoots; this has led to a considerable loss of genetic diversity in cultivated blue agave.
It is rare for one kept as a houseplant to flower, but a 50-year old blue agave in Boston grew a 10 m (30 ft) stalk requiring a hole in the greenhouse roof and flowered in the summer of 2006.[2][3]
Tequila is produced by removing the heart (piña) of the plant in its twelfth year. Harvested piñas normally weigh between 36–91 kg (80–200 lb).[1] This heart is stripped of its leaves and heated to remove the sap, which is fermented and distilled. Other beverages like mezcal and pulque are also produced from blue and other agaves by different methods (though still using the sap) and are regarded as more traditional.
As agave production has moved to an industrial scale since the end of 1980s, diseases and pests, collectively referred to as TMA (tristeza y muerte de agave, "wilting and death of agave"), have hit the crops. Through the 1990s, diseases spread, particularly Fusarium fungi and Erwinia bacteria, exacerbated by the low genetic diversity of the agave plants.[4] Other problems include the agave weevil, Scyphophorus acupunctatus,[5] and a fungus, Thielaviopsis paradoxa.[6]
According to a 2004 study, additional pathogens, Erwinia carotovora, Enterobacter agglomerans, Pseudomonas mendocina, and Serratia sp. are responsible for continued rot.[7]