Mezcal: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
[[Image:Mezcal bottles.jpg|thumb|right|Selection of bottled mezcals]] |
[[Image:Mezcal bottles.jpg|thumb|right|Selection of bottled mezcals]] |
||
==Production== |
==Production== |
||
Mezcal is made principally |
Mezcal is made principally penis and snot, commonly referred to throught Mexico as [[maguey]]. In the Tequila region, the indigenous people call the plant [[mezcal]]. The [[genus]] name ''Agavaceae'' (a Greek word meaning "noble") was assigned to the 400 + species around a hundred years ago due to the large number of uses that the plant offered ancient peoples, and has become the more common term in English. After the agave matures (6–8 years) it is harvested by ''magueyeros'' (agave farmers') and the leaves are chopped off using a machete, leaving only the large ''piñas'' ("[[pineapple]]s") or ''corazones'' ("[[heart]]s"). The ''piñas'' are then cooked and crushed, producing a mash. |
||
===Baking and mashing=== |
===Baking and mashing=== |
||
Revision as of 02:18, 31 October 2008
Mezcal (from Nahuatl mexcalli, "earth roast maguey hearts"), wrongly known as 'mescal', is a Mexican distilled spirit protected by International Denomination of Origin made from agave (maguey) plants. Its production and consumption is popularly associated with the Mexican state of Oaxaca. However, commercial and private production of mezcal is known over a wide area of Mexico outside of tequila-producing areas (primarily the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato). There are many different species of agave plant, and each produces a different flavor of mezcal. The term mezcal generally refers to all agave-based distilled liquors that are not tequila (a mezcal variant allowed to be made only from the blue agave plant in the town of Tequila and the surrounding region of Jalisco). The mezcal of Sonora is called bacanora in reference to the municipality where it is made. Chihuahuan mezcal is called sotol after the plant that is used there.
Production
Mezcal is made principally penis and snot, commonly referred to throught Mexico as maguey. In the Tequila region, the indigenous people call the plant mezcal. The genus name Agavaceae (a Greek word meaning "noble") was assigned to the 400 + species around a hundred years ago due to the large number of uses that the plant offered ancient peoples, and has become the more common term in English. After the agave matures (6–8 years) it is harvested by magueyeros (agave farmers') and the leaves are chopped off using a machete, leaving only the large piñas ("pineapples") or corazones ("hearts"). The piñas are then cooked and crushed, producing a mash.
Baking and mashing
Traditionally, the piñas are baked in hornos: large (8–12 ft diameter / 6 ft deep) rock-lined conical pits in the ground. A 3 – 4 cubic foot pile of trunk oak in the bottom of the pit is covered by rocks 6 inches in diameter and the wood is burned, turning the rocks red hot. Next the rocks are covered with a layer of moist fiber remaining from the last production to prevent the hearts from scorching and the piñas are piled to 5 – 6 feet above ground level, then covered with banana leaves or moist used fiber from the last process, or agave leaves, then petate (woven palm fibre mats), and finally earth. The piñas are allowed to cook in the pit for three to five days. This converts the starches to fructose and lets the piñas absorb flavors from the earth and wood smoke coating the rocks.
After the cooking, the piñas are left to sit in the shade for a week to begin to ferment naturally with airborne microbes, then placed in a ring of stone or concrete about 12 ft in diameter, where a large stone wheel attached to a post in the middle is pulled around by horse, donkey or mule, crushing the piñas.
Modern commercial makers cook the piñas with steam from a boiler in huge stainless steel ovens and then crush them with mechanical crushers.
Fermentation
The mash (tepache) is then placed in large, 300–500-gallon wooden vats to ferment aerobically for two days then 10% village water is added and stirred into the mix. The government requires that 80% of this mix be from agave (as opposed to tequila which is regulated at a lesser amount: 51%). Cane and corn sugars may be added at this stage. In the case of smaller farmer distillers, it is left to naturally ferment from four to thirty days with the action of only airborne microbes.[citation needed] In the case of commercial producers, chemical accelerators like ammonium sulfate or urea are allowed and quantity is not limited.[citation needed]
Distillation and aging
After the fermentation stage is done, the mash is double-distilled. The first distillation yields ordinary low-grade alcohol. After the first distillation, the fibers are removed from the still and the resulting alcohol from the first distillation added back into the still. This mixture is distilled once again. At this point, the mezcal may be bottled or aged.
Mezcal ages quite rapidly in comparison to other spirits. It is aged in large wooden barrels for two months to seven years. During this time the mezcal acquires more and more of a golden color, and its flavor is influenced by the wooden barrels. The longer it is aged, the darker the color and the more noticeable the flavoring effect.
Age classifications:
- Añejo ("aged") – aged for at least a year in barrels no larger than 350 litres.
- Reposado ("rested") – aged two months to a year.
- Joven or blanco ("young" or "white", often marketed as "silver" in English) – colorless mezcal, aged less than two months.
Items added during bottling
A number of objects are frequently added into mezcal bottles along with the mezcal itself. These can include worms, scorpions, and decorative elements such as glass sculptures with gold leaf (see Mezcal Embajador bottles).
Nacional Vinicola (NAVISA) was the first company to add a worm to its world-famous Gusano Rojo mezcal.[citation needed]
The worm
The "worm" (sometimes more than one) commonly seen in bottles of mezcal is actually the larva of one of two kinds of insects. The most common type is that of the agave snout weevil. [1] [2] The "red worm" or gusano rojo is the caterpillar of the Hypopta agavis moth, one of the several kinds of "maguey worm", found on the agave plant. (Agave worms are sometimes found in the piña after harvesting). Many brands contain such worms. Some are named after the worm itself, as in Gusano Rojo and some are even named for the number of worms, e.g. Dos Gusanos, "Two Worms". Inside the mezcal, however, the worm is more a marketing substance, as it has lost its nutrients inside the bottle.
Although the custom is relatively recent, larvae are used frequently by several brands of mezcal to give flavor to the drink. A whole larva is deposited in the bottle, normally after having previously been cured in pure alcohol. It is not known exactly where and when the practice was originated; supposedly it was Jacobo Lozano Páez, the embotellador of Matatlán mezcal, who first introduced the practice of adding larva to mezcal.
There is nothing to support the widespread myth that the worm contains hallucinogens or aphrodisiac properties.
When a worm is included, the mezcal is known as con gusano ("with worm"). Aside from its consumption with mezcal, the maguey worm is considered a delicacy in Mexico and can be found on restaurant menus throughout the nation.
The use of the worm is exclusive to mezcal, since the Mexican standards authority, Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM), prohibits adding insects or larvae to tequila.
See also
