Mesclun is a low-maintenance lettuce crop that can be grown in various ways, including planting, growing, and harvesting. It is a cool season crop that grows in spring through early summer and plants again in early fall. To ensure the plant’s survival, it needs consistent moisture and should be placed less than one foot from a window.
Mescal Ceniza, a type of mesclun, requires abundant, bright, and direct light and prefers dry environments. To ensure its survival, place it less than one foot from a window and water deeply every 2-4 weeks during the growing season. Agaves, on the other hand, prefer well-draining soil and are highly drought-tolerant. They do not need frequent watering and should only be watered when the soil has dried.
To keep the seeds in constant moisture, cover them with a glass cover or a small greenhouse dome to keep the seeds in constant moisture at temperatures of about 20°C (68°F). In winter, the dormant period is when the agave plants need 0.8 cups of water every 12 days when it doesn’t get direct sunlight and is potted in a 5.0″ pot.
Agaves need infrequent watering, with soil allowed to dry out completely between waterings to prevent root rot. They prefer full sun but can also survive in partial shade conditions. If growing your agave indoors, you will need to place it in a sheltered location with proper drainage and drainage.
In summary, mesclun is a low-maintenance lettuce crop that can be grown in various ways, including planting, growing, and harvesting. By following these tips, you can ensure your mesclun plants thrive and provide a continuous supply of fresh, gourmet greens for your dinnertime salad bowl.
📹 Mezcal Is The Fastest-Growing Liquor In The US. Why Aren’t Mexican Producers Cashing In?
Making mezcal is really hard work. Mexican producers harvest agave by hand and cook it in giant, earthen ovens. Then they crush …
How to keep agave plants healthy?
Agave plants, with over 250 species, require well-draining, rocky, sandy, or cactus soil and at least six hours of light daily. They prefer neutral to slightly acidic soil and do not grow well in humidity. Agave plants grow best in rocky, sandy, well-drained soil in full sun. Fertilizer can encourage agave to bloom, but it is not recommended as the plant only blooms once and dies. Agave is used for distilled liquors like tequila and mezcal, and for making syrup, a lower glycemic sugar alternative.
Light agave has a neutral flavor, amber has a slight caramel flavor, and dark has a strong caramel flavor. The plant is best grown in the spring or early fall and requires only water when the soil is dry.
How to care for an indoor agave plant?
Agave plants are drought-tolerant and require medium to light watering. They need to dry out completely before rewatering, but they need more water in containers. Agaves should be repotted every year, with a potting mix refresh and root trim. A high-quality, clear plastic pot is ideal for viewing the plant’s root system and maximizing sunlight uptake. Ceramic pots are also suitable for succulents.
Agave plants thrive with full sun exposure or partial shade, and indoors, they should be placed in a bright, sunny spot with west- or south-facing windows. They need 6 hours of light, and if needed, consider getting a grow light. They love being placed outside from spring to fall, but too much sunlight can cause sunburn.
When choosing a pot for your Agave, ensure it is designed to drain well to prevent excess moisture from causing the plant to get sick. If your plant needs more indoor light, consider getting a grow light.
How to tell if agave needs water?
The topsoil test is essential for determining the health of your agave plant. If it’s dry, it indicates the roots are in need of water. Watering should be done at the right time, with summer being the ideal time for watering, while winter is a time for patience. Environmental factors, such as pot size and type, also play a role in watering. Indoor agaves rely on water, while outdoor ones are more resilient.
Small pots dry out quickly, while larger ones retain moisture. Terracotta pots are breathable, while plastic pots provide a raincoat. Overall, proper watering is crucial for your agave’s growth and health.
How long does a Mezcal plant take to grow?
Agaves, both cultivated and wild, are used in distillate production, with growth phases ranging from 5 to 15 years. Tequila is made from Agave tequilana Weber, while Mezcal is distilled from over 30 species, with A. angustifolia being the most common. Both mature in seven to eight years, produce high sugar content, and are easy to propagate. Growing agaves is labor-intensive, but Mezcals are more interesting from wild species, where their natural environment, location, and altitude significantly influence taste.
The best-known wild agave species for Mezcal production is A. potatorum, called Tobalá. Extracting agaves is often laborious due to their remote location and pack animal transportation. Different types of agave produce different flavor profiles, similar to wine vines.
Do agave plants like full sun?
Agaves thrive in full sun and sandy, well-drained soil, with some being more cold-tolerant than others. They produce giant asparagus-looking flower spikes when they bloom, and their smooth spineless leaves have a distinctly blue cast. The octopus agave, also known as A. vilmoriniana, has pale green rosettes that can reach up to 6 feet wide and produces baby plantlets along its bloom spike. It will die after about ten years, but can be kept in a garden for years by potting up baby plantlets along its spike.
The thread leaf agave, also known as A. filifera, is a 2-foot-wide dark green species native to central Mexico. It is easy to grow, preferring to be ignored and reproducing itself with new heads that can be allowed to spread or potted up.
What is the difference between the tequila plant and the mezcal plant?
Tequila is made from a single type of agave plant, Blue Weber Agave, while mezcal can be made from any agave plant, including all 40 varieties. Mezcal is made by roasting the piña, the core of the agave plant, in conical pits in the ground, similar to barbacoa. This cooking method results in a smokier taste, but the less constrained methodology allows for a greater variety in flavors. The small batch nature of mezcal allows for astronomical flavors, depending on the maker.
On the other hand, tequila is made by steaming the blue agave piña in a brick oven or autoclave. Tequila’s strict constraints result in more consistent flavors and easier industrial production, making it a more common import on American bar shelves. Mezcals are by nature individual and changeable, with the same brand or farmer producing a bottle that tastes different from the previous month or year’s output.
How often should I water agaves?
Agaves require minimal attention to thrive, with watering every 4-5 days for the first month or two. After that, they need only 2-3 times a month in summer, or more if in a low desert location. Specialized plant food, like Miracle-Gro® Liquid Succulent Plant Food, can be used during the growing season. Brussels sprouts are making a comeback in kitchens, and with proper planning and care, you can enjoy a colorful, long-lasting tulip display each spring.
Should I cut off damaged agave leaves?
Agaves are pruned after blooming or when infested with agave weevils, removing the entire plant to prevent further infestations. Yuccas and nolinas are pruned similarly to agaves, removing only damaged leaves and any armament on the ends. Dead leaves covering the trunk of tall-growing yuccas and nolinas can protect them from cold in winter and water loss during dry summer periods. Green leaves are essential for food production and health, and incorrectly pruned yuccas can result in incorrect results.
Dasylirions, also known as desert spoons or sotols, have similar growth patterns as yuccas and agaves, but green leaves should never be removed. Dead leaves can be removed for aesthetic purposes, but this is not necessary. Dasylirions should never be skinned or have all their leaves removed, as this opens up live growing tissue to insects and diseases. Cutting off portions of green leaves to create a sculpted spiral is unnatural and never recommended.
Do you cut off dead agave leaves?
Agaves, Yuccas, Dasylirion, and other desert plants are easy to prune, with some being more armored than others. Agaves have a spine at the end of each leaf, which can be dangerous to animals and people, especially small children and pets. To avoid this danger, plant them away from walkways and other areas frequented by people and pets. Remove the spiny leaf tips by pruning off the tip as it unfolds or as needed. Choose an agave without armament along the leaf and plant in the correct location to eliminate the need for most pruning.
The major pruning involved with agaves is their removal after blooming or when the plant is infested with agave weevils. This includes taking the bloom spike, mother plant, and as much of the underground stem and roots as possible to remove the weevils and their larvae.
Yuccas and nolinas (bear grass) are pruned similarly to agaves, removing only damaged leaves and any armament on the ends of the leaves. Anecdotal evidence shows that leaving dead leaves covering the trunk of tall-growing yuccas and nolinas can protect them from cold in winter and water loss during dry summer periods. Green leaves on yuccas or nolinas are essential for food production and health and growth.
What does an overwatered agave look like?
The overwatering of an Agave century plant can result in the development of symptoms such as the yellowing, swelling, or translucence of foliage, which may ultimately lead to the deterioration of the root structure. In the event that overwatering is suspected, the plant should be removed, the roots inspected, and any affected roots trimmed. The plant should then be dipped in fungicide and repotted in fresh soil.
Does mezcal need a worm?
Mezcal brands often use the worm in their marketing to attract customers, but this misconception is not true. The worm is not found in tequila, as it is a product called mezcal, which is often confused with tequila. Both spirits are made by distilling the agave plant, and a bottle must be at least 51 percent blue agave (agave tequilana). The higher the percentage of blue agave, the finer the bottle. Tequila is a type of mezcal, but mezcal is not tequila, and only mezcal has worms. Cinco de Mayo is still a great day to celebrate with an agave-based spirit.
📹 Harvesting Agave (2/3) | How to Brew Mezcal and Tequila
In this second part of Mezcal and Tequila, Andy heads to the city of Tequila, Mexico and learns how to hand harvest his own …
I’m currently in my parents home town in Oaxaca and we grow our own agave here. I wouldn’t say it’s made everyone rich but I can see that all of us here in this village are happy. We all own houses and don’t struggle from a day to day bases. No rent and no actual bills. Money isn’t all that important to the people. It’s the laid back lifestyle of being able to say what you own, is truly yours.
As a scientist, I was SO impressed to hear that she starts every agave plant from seed. That is disgustingly rare in modern agriculture, and the reason why mainstream bananas are dying right now. When you start a plant from cuttings, it is a clone. There is no chance for the plant to evolve, and they MUST evolve to keep up with diseases affecting them which evolve. And over the years, it also reduces genetic diversity of a crop, making it even more susceptible to disease. Kudos to her. I’ll buy her mezcal before anyone else’s.
Seems like a traditional story of a booming product in a Latino country 1. The product gets popular 2. The government gets involved in order to make it “official” which works fine the first two years and then gets totally corrupt 3. The people lose their government support and become poorer than before 4. Outside country gets involved and do “business” with locals 5. The outside country gets richer and the local producers stay the same or even more poorer 6. The products ends up dying or losing his original formula. Pretty standard imo
I’m not a hard alcohol guy generally. But the best liquor I ever had was corn liquor (moonshine) from an old man back in the hills of the ozarks. Probably 120-140 proof but smooth with a clean finish. I’m glad people are keeping the old tradition methods alive. Machines can’t capture the subtlety that craft produced spirits have.
This is the same process that we in Hawaii use to make okolehao. In Hawaii we use the ti root, smoked in the ground called an Imu. During thanksgiving time we put turkeys in the ground along with all the other foods as thanksgiving falls during the traditional makahiki harvest holiday of old Hawaii nei.
My grandpa was the last in my family That knew how to make the traditional way of making mezcal but sadly past away last year. I was interested how he made it because he had 3 big barrels full of mezcal stored in a old home that they use for farming. He told me that someone broke in and stole almost 2 barrels full of mezcal. He mentioned that making mezcal in this Pueblo is so rare nowadays because the only people that know are the older generation. When I visited I told him let’s take the last remaining of mezcal back with us. We couldn’t take the barrel because it was massive and heavy so we poured it in 2 liter coke bottles lol. I had a fun time because my grandma was helping pour and when some of it poured onto her hand she started licking her fingers. My reaction 😨 when I seen her lick it. She can’t have it cause of health issues but she was happy because she couldn’t have none for a long time. I’ve asked my grandpa if he could teach me but said it takes a long time to make and couldn’t move as he used to. Nowadays when I go visit my grandma going on the main road people have signs selling mezcal everywhere! The party’s I been to I see people bring out the coke bottles with mezcal 😂 you know that shiii the real deal when it’s in a coke bottle
The folklore behind this drink makes me want to try it, very interesting creation process too. “Created with power, as if coming from a volcano”. Not only that, I hope the individuals that create these drinks, from farming to distilling and packaging, get the notoriety, earnings and shares they deserve!
This nearly made me cry! I come from a mezcalero family, from Tlacolula Oaxaca, maybe my close family is not the one that produces It but since I was a child my beloved abuelita told me the stories of how when they prepared the land to plant the agave they found zapoteco’s figures, of how her grandfather with her mother created the mezcal de pechuga and how the first car of the town arrived on train. Even she told me that those quotes like “para todo mal mezcal y para todo bien también” where created by her family to promote the drink. I’m from Puebla and my mom but especially my abuelita get really angry to see how here are a lot of “mezcal producers”. Even they got mad when they see the quality of the drink. “This is not mezcal, this is aguardiente” once told me my mom “a good mezcal will never hurt your throat when you drink it, is a smooth and fine drink.” It’s just too sad yo see the hipocrisy with “producers” and the denominación de origen.
i don’t really drink but the way they make this is so beautiful. Planting from seeds, milling it in a mule powered stone mill, i love it! You can tell they have respect for the land and for the tradition. a million times better than big factories where everything is made of stainless steel and white concrete that get their ingredients on big freight ships from all over the world. Its a shame this type of local production is so rare nowadays. If anyone asks me what mezcal to buy i’ll say REAL MINERO
Amazing work you guys did here, it has been sad to see how international brands are taking mezcal and selling it for a lot of money, in the past four years we have seen how a bottle of mezcal went from 10usd to 20-25usd and some are no longer real Mexican brands. Oaxaca is very well know for good artisanal mezcal, great place to visit
I worked at a liquor store for a number of years while studying at uni. In the last year I was there, more mezcal started coming through and I genuinely enjoy drinking it straight like tequila. Quite underrated here in Australia. It certainly was 500% better than the limited options prior to the introduction of new mezcal, although backed by Hollywood stars. I had two bottles of mezcal and couldn’t drink it no matter how I tried. I would try to give away free shots to friends and they said no thanks 😂. What a lovely documentary. Appreciate the traditionalist. They do what they do because of the passion they have for it, rather than massively profiting on it. Literal blood, sweat and tears. Like anyone who experienced a hard days work, that taste better!
For those that may ask what the difference is between Mezcal and Tequila, it simply is this. Tequila is only made from Agave Azul and Mezcal can be created with any variation of Agave/Maguey. The cooking process is traditionally the same. The rest of the difference is marketing… Oaxaca can’t make Tequila because of trademarks so they focus on Mezcal. Regardless they both are great sprites. Great article!!
Mezcal has been my favorite liquor since I first tried it. The only stuff I could ever drink was tequila and I tried mezcal on my 21st birthday and never went back. It’s hard to describe the taste but I would say it tastes extremely clean. It’s got an herbal, almost antiseptic taste to it. I know that probably sounds gross but I love it.
There’s a bit more to this story… Would love if there was a follow up about the larger producers over-harvesting the wild agave’s. I think there should be a distinction between ancestral method mezcal and a distilled agave spirit. The traditional way is sustainable the non-traditional ways are often not. ( not in all cases )
My family grows Magueys in Oaxaca. Uprooting small offshoot magueys and replanting is common practice. However, as small plants, they are highly susceptible to plagues like insects and fungi. And because you cannot apply insecticide or fungicide, their rearing requires frequent attention. Generally speaking, most growers dont plant seeds because it is even more time consuming. Offshoot Magueys take about seven to eight years, on average, to reach maturity. The process between planting a seed and plant maturity is about nine to ten years.
What a fascinating process! So traditional and you can tell this is pre-Hispanic by the processes used, especially cooking it underground. Mexicans do the same thing with barbacoa and cochinita pibil. Cooking underground with agave leaves used to cover the meat and then covering it with dirt is a quintessential pre-Hispanic cooking technique that has been used for thousands of years including being used by the Mayas, Aztecs and other indigenous people of Mexico. Amazing!
Excellent article. My friends and I visited a tequila operation in 2002 in Puerto Vallarta that was very similar to this mezcal group. We watched workers use the identical processing. The difference between mescal and tequila is that tequila can only be made by the Blue Agave variant, while mezcal can be made from up to 50 different variants of the agave plant. Pure tequila, of which I brought back 5 bottles, has the same smoky taste as mezcal. The standards at the time required that tequila have a mixture of at least 50% agave to have the right to label it tequila. Large companies, like Jose Cuervo, mix its agave with caramel, which gives it the distinctive color we associate with tequila. The added sugars also go straight to our brains that we feel the next morning. Pure tequila is color free, almost like water until you taste it. It goes down smooth and an imbiber doesn’t wake up with the headache associated with a hangover. Agave products are very light and smoky. There is an undertone of the distinct taste to one of the plant’s 2nd cousin, the coffee bean. I haven’t tasted the contemporary mezcal brew as the doctor closed my saloon rights in 2006 to keep my heart regular. But, using the ancient techniques and processes we see in this article, I’m confident mezcal has the same unique taste that only cooked agave can bring.
Tequila, called Vino Mezcal from the XVIII Century and up to the beginning of the XX Century in the state of Jalisco, where it was born, was also the liquor of the poor up until the 1980’s when the “Reposado” method for producing a smoother tequila with a lightly smoky flavor was developed by Tequila Herradura, then the Mexican middle and upper classes started drinking Tequila Reposado instead of Brandy, Cognac or Whiskey and the price of Tequila went up and became the most expensive spirit in Mexico. The problem with Mezcal (which is made from a different kind of agave than the one used to make Tequila) is that several Mexican producers in the state of Oaxaca were bought by American corporations (including tens of thousands of land where agave for Mezcal is grown) and now they are producing Mezcal exclusively for export to the U.S. and they are setting the price and dominating the market thanks to a strong Marketing campaign, and they are the ones who pushed for the regulations on Denomination Of Origin to exclude many small producers of Mezcal in Mexico beyond the geographical area where they have their agave producing lands. The big fish eat the little fish.
I love hearing stories about things like this that are so strongly rooted in the culture and history they belong to. Not an expert in the field, but it’s certainly good to give these people a voice reaching far beyond Mexico. If I get a chance to try real Mezcal, I’m certainly going to do that. And, to be honest? I wanna know how this smells so badly. Especially the ovens. Don’t get me wrong, heat of just being there would kill me. But the smell of smokey sweet agave and earthy scents has to be good.
On a recent drive from Tepic to Guadalajara, I marveled at all the maguay planted alongside the road. Every nook and cranny had maguay planted in neat rows, up and down the hillsides, and literally along the highway. The obvious farm fields of maguay were omnipresent. To a newcomer, it was an amazing sight that went on and on for muchos kilometros.
it hurts to see these traditional craftsmen being exploited like this … its not just them but it happens all over the world, in asia, the middle east, africa, etc … some traditional craftsmen with ancestral knowledge passed down for hundreds or thousands of years, some american or european middleman buys them for pennies and then sells them to other middle class europeans or americans for an enormous profit
Our ancestors used to make ropes and other bags from the fiber extracted from the leaves agave of this plant and using the stem that grows in the middle of it, dry it well and make a bot and use it for traveling on lake water for fishing. I did not really know there is a liqueur made from this plant. Thanks for the article.
Interesting. I’ll remember for the future to look for distilled agave. I remember drinking Mescal in the 80’s. The only kind that was available was Monte Alban Mezcal and you got to eat the worm at the bottom of the bottle. It certainly wasn’t cheap but it wasn’t expensive either. I think it also came with a packet of seasoned salt. I prefer Mescal to regular Tequila.
I live here in southern Mexico. Usually we see people walking around selling Mezcal in large plastic soda bottles. They come from time to time. When they approach you, they offer you a taste. I had heard a story from my boss that he knew some producers of Mezcal, and they would tell him that the “devil” would come to taste their Mezcal. Supposedly every time he would come, he would come different, he would come as business man, or just a regular guy. All he would do is arrive and tell them, “I’m here to taste your Mezcal” He would get a taste, tell them it’s good or not, and just leave, not saying another word. But I don’t know, a lot of people here superstitious .
It happened to scotch, then gin, now mezcal… Why are people so eager to jump on any hype train, desperate to join the “in-crowd” promoted by some rich folks, influencers and shrewd marketeers? A short boom follows and century old production methods get corrupted and ruin small communty produce for years. It’s really sad.😣 Good documentary👍
The Mexican growers know this is a fleeting fad. Anglo-American hipsters just want to impress their friends with how knowledgeable and pretentious they are by showing them they know the difference between Mezcal and Tequila. In a few years they’ll move on to something else once everyone knows and they can’t feel special. Mezcal producers are probably aware that there is folly in investing capital in short-term trends.
I’m Mexican with Family from Guanajuato who are farmers on both sides of the family, Agave plant has been very popular in the last years but you need to have big $$ to get into this plant. The bad part is it fucks over the poorer people because it’s hard for them to keep livestock around when huge majority of the lands are Agave, what will the livestock eat? My fathers family has raised over 100k in cash to farm Agave closer to 200k usd and will profit big, my mothers side is to poor and no longer has livestock because the repercussion’s of majority of the lands being farmed agave. The good side to this is that the youth now have good paying work, hard work but good paying non the less. Before they would make about $50 a week working 12-16 hours a day now they can make a good 3-400 a week depending how good/fast they are at the job.
What a great example of cultural appropiation!!! Neirther G. Clooney or Adam Levine or Kendall Jenner, etc… have ever sweat a drop while working under the sun to care and cultivate an agave plant ….much less to transform the plant into mezcal o tequila. Please don’t Buy from them or from the Big brands, and help support local producers in México… at least, we can help that way, as consumers.
Keep in mind there are pros & cons for both seeds & cuttings. When you start from seed, it can be crap shoot. Some plants will grow better than others, some yield more, others less. You will find one plant that is best of the bunch, and that is the one you take cuttings from. Why not have an entire field of the best plant growing instead of just a few.
Had Mezcal in a cocktail in San Diego over 10 years ago when Mezcal was barely coming into the USA restaurants. It was delicious. But after then as Mezcal hit the market more, the flavors I’ve tasted changed and weren’t as complex and smooth and enjoyable. Mezcal was something I enjoyed but now I can’t stand the stuff. It kinda sucks cause I’d really enjoy another smoked drink again with some quality flavors.
El Salvador here. My family switched from making alcohol from corn to making ropes out of the agave leaves. I’m not sure if they were aware of what they could have done with the piña. We call agave “mezcal” and it is not a Mexican plant, it’s a mesoamerican one just like chocolate, corn, and advocado.
San Diego native here. In the 80s and into the early 90s, we would go down past Tijuana and eat seafood and a bottle of Mescal “came with the table”…..Lol. Had a worm in it. It was kinda rot gut but we drank it. After dinner we go to the beach and light off fireworks. Just like anything else things change and it’s not the same. Good times
I wish I can purchase some bottles of Real Minero. Unfortunately I live in a part of the US where the county government has a monopoly on deciding what can be sold so I have to look elsewhere and if necessary go there to purchase it. Such as fascinating story, and a shame that government bureaucracy and corruption is everywhere and in the end screws the regular people.
Regulation and certification should PROTECT small, local, traditional producers, not hinder them and push them out of business. What’s the point of regulation making sure that the process is “traditional”, if it forces families making that traditional product for centuries to re-brand and not call it what it really is?
2:30, just an FYI, while I am sure speed is a part of it, the other reason basically all growing industries use root cuttings if they can is genetic variability. If you get a root or branch cutting (depends on the plant) you basically get a clone of the donor plant through grafting. This reduces variability and makes for extremely consistent results. Just like with human kids, if you plant seeds there is genetic variation involved. Mostly minor, but sometimes it can have major effects people don’t want. So between the benefits from speed and consistency in farming, grafting almost always reigns supreme. The one drawback is it makes the plants more vulnerable to diseases as you have a bunch of exact clones in extremely close proximity.
That’s why whenever I go to Mexico I make sure I buy bottles from local stands that aren’t always international. 1) You help locals feed their family and help keep tradition alive 2) It goes down smoother and tastes better than whatever well known brand you can think of 3) You’re able to take it back home and flex on your houseguests after offering them a shot of the best mezcal or tequila they’ve ever had
Not being able to get the rewards of making the beverage, it seems extremely unfair to the maker. I imagine you can only keep pushing for ease in certification in your country. If you can find a lawyer to organize the issue to use public opinion against the greedy bottlers, it would help with getting in with principal makers to help with cost to use the media, just as you did with your wonderful story here. I do not drink alcoholic beverages, but yours is a hard created product that people care about, and you care enough to do it as it should be done. You were exactly right in placing thus story about its background and show your name creating it, and it will cause people to want to back your product now they know more. Finding the right knowledgeable legal or bottling person to help fight for rights for less money now, in these years, will help you protect it for future years, when it will continue to grow in desirability. I wish you well and will watch for more info. I am sure you are on the right track, in promoting your story of all the work, time, and knowledge you use to make your beverage the best.
I love tequila but I can’t stand mezcal. I was given a “really good” bottle of Mezcal from a friend of mine that lives in Mexico. I was hoping that it would change my mind. Nope. It still tastes like gasoline to me even through the after taste is a bit smoky and interesting. We like what we like I guess
Mezcal and myself don’t get along, it messes me up badly 😂 I can drink up to half a liter of Tequila, I’d get drunk of course, but drinking water after the party for 30 or so minutes a liter or a bit more perfectly restores me. But Mezcal is a different story, with as little as 100ml I get to sing the frog song at the toilet 😅
My grandma rest her soul used to make Mezcal all the time. She or my grandpa were not much drinkers, but they used it for medicinal purposes. She would always send some to our family here is the U.S. or when she came to visit. We would take shots of it and man that stuff was pure clean but strong. The stuff they sell as Mezcal, most of it is pure crap. The process in this article shows you the art of making mezcal. Only purists or someone who has made it, can easily distinguish a good mezcal from something sold as “Mezcal.” Like everything else that was made by poor people for poor people, eventually it becomes mainstream, and some greedy individuals or corporations will try to scale it and bring it up in price. There’s always hipster willing to pay a lot. That will only drive the price up. It’s both good and bad, depending on which end of the spectrum you’re in.
I swear, every single one of these articles starts with a wholesome cultural tradition of preparing something with vigorous or labor intensive methods. Second half of the articles are some other entity/company/country abusing the reselling of the product at 5 to 10x what they pay while the ones producing are making a fraction of what they should. It’s really sickening the way the world works.
Interesting. I tried Tequila for the first time today. 100% agave Altos Plata Blanco. Interesting taste, not at all hard to drink as I had imagined it (I don’t like whisky). Slight taste of pine, grass, and menthol. Very sweet as well. Now I want to try Mezcal as well for the more smoky flavour. 🙂 Seems interesting.
This is a great article that explains a lot but I do have one major criticism. After doing seafood business in Mexico it is very wrong and causes a lot of conflict that results in businesses wanting to bypass the small producers when they get the idea that reselling in the USA is just a matter of repackaging and marking up. The costs related to marketing, selling, logistics etc is substantial and not easy. Most of that margin is consumed by operations and often an American business will have to operate at a loss until they’ve gained a market position of enough volume. When you give small producers the wrong idea it creates animosity and ultimately makes it difficult to work with them.
Just pointing out that the manhours spent to build and rebuild that oven could be invested into building specialized ones that are actually reusable. An initial investment in time and material that repays itself in a very short time. Kinda like how we stopped being hunter-gatherers and started farming. Progress.
Great to see someone producing from seed. Not only is this important for ensuring the genetic integrity and resilience of the crop, allowing a portion of the Agave to flower allows bats (their natural pollinator) to thrive. Bat Conservation International has some great info out there, just search “Bat friendly tequila”
This was much better than Business Insider’s series on why some agricultural products are so expensive. The issue is exploitation by non-value-adding middlemen. It’s about fair trade. The other series suggests that the hard work of agricultural laborers results in high retail prices, which is complete nonsense. These laborers see very, very little of the retail price, which goes primarily to the profits of retailers, intermediaries, and corrupt civil “servants”. It’s completely reasonable that there are standards for the finished product, and México could–if it weren’t so relentlessly and insidiously corrupt–offer different types of certification (that already exist) related to geography, practices, and finished products. However, none of that protects against economic exploitation, which is the centerpiece of capitalism. Would people so flippantly and cheaply consume labor-intensive agricultural products if laborers weren’t essentially slaves and middlemen continued to receive their exorbitant, unearned cuts? We could ask the same of Amazon, or any major industry. The ethically unbearable cost is in the exploitation of land and labor, so we pay a premium for plausible deniability. That is capitalism.
Sad part is that capitalism goes against the core of Mexican culture, especially the idea of foreign entities making money off the backs of the Mexican people who are actually working the land. Not that this is a new problem thanks to our long-standing corruption problems but it just breaks my heart to see this happening with something so central to the practices of our ancient people.
see this guy 3:53. This guy understands something a lot of people in the world doesn’t seem to figure out: Not everyone is made the same, this is why you can trace your ancestral origins to countries you have never been to some times. additionally, those people of these locales have a variety of genetic features that makes them more adequate for their native environment than anyone else, in this example, Genetically Canadian and Russian people being genetically predisposed to live in colder environment by a factor of 5 degrees celcius, from last time i checked. The Equivalent can be said for people living in the southernmost places, like Australians, Southern Region of Africa (not specifically South-Africa), and most of South America (I will never call it Latin America, that’s the way i was taught it was called). so in this case, this man is saying darki-skinned mexicans are more resistant to this sort of toxin, he seems to have good amount of expoerience to say this with such confidence, i have no reason to distrust the man.
In minute 13:52, when they mention that “US companies are allowed to buy it from Mexican producers, repackage and re-sell”, I believe it is not the best explanation. I believe that what happens is that they produce mezcal via a Mexican subsidiary (a branch of the US company that is established in Mexico). Otherwise, if re-packaged in the US, it could not be called Mezcal, due to the Certificado de Origen. I know these rules could just apply in Mexican territory but the certificate of origin’s compliance should be stated in the Mexico-Canada-US free trade agreement. Please correct me if I’m wrong or ENLIGHTEN me on how US companies actually make it.
I think it’s sort of ridiculous when products that originally were just local classics become huge exports. It’s sort of sad that it punishes small producers and eventually it sucks out all the love and attention that was placed into the product in the first place. It’s why I think IF YOU CAN and have the money to do so, buy locally. It’s better for the producers and gives them more money. When I had a local dairy farm, I would buy milk from them instead. It tastes so much better and it’s so fresh and perfect even for cooking. Plus, getting to dick over the big companies that force the people who do most of the work to earn less is a very satisfying reason to do so.
This needs a producer owned fair trading cooperative governing body to look after the producers. This body could possibly blend to harmonize their produce in to a consistent export product offering like many of the more famous whisky brands such as famous grouse, chivas regal and johnny walker do. This hypothetical trade organisation could also add prestige/mystique around the product as a whole by releasing small special edition batches, again, like the whisky industry does, a regular bottle of malt whisky is say £45-£70, a special bottle will be ~£200-£450, a halo bottle will be well into four figures.
Mark my words, soon there is gonna be no authentic Mexican product on your shelves. Foreign non-Mexican liquor companies are either buying or destroying Mexican own producers by out competing local competitors. Beers like Model, Tecate, Corona are household names and are sold to us as supposedly Mexican beers, but in reality, these brands belong to non-Mexican conglomerates. All the traditional methods for producing these beers are being lost because foreign companies come with their own set of standards and guidelines for making beer. Ingredients are being replaced with synthetics, natural colors with food coloring, fermentation processes being cut short for deadlines, techniques being replaced for “safer/healthier” techniques etc. For these big foreign conglomerates, their primary goal is profit maximization, they wanna appeal to the masses, and in that pursuit, they are making concessions with these beers to make them more attractive to their target demographics. And whether it’s them making the taste less sour or less smoky, they will alter the original traditional taste for a more popular & familiar taste. May as well call these beers and liquors are completely different thing, and don’t try to fool people. So unless you love eating the sh.t that Taco Bell sells you, be my guest, but just don’t call that garbage Mexican.
The guys here have the passion knowledge and enthusiasm to bring you Mexico’s quality spirit enough to put a smile on anyone’s face no matter what the price the agave plant itself takes its time to mature so make time to enjoy not by the shot by the glass dance sing and appreciate the effort involved until your buzzing with laughter Jalisco Mexico we honour you
Hey Andy. I love HTME, but I’m personally not a fan of the mini series, multi-part episodes on how a product is made. I much prefer when I can explore the inner workings of a product from start to finish. Perhaps you might be able to find the time to salvage/collage the processes required in making various stoneware pieces to set a table, or restock your future shed with a series of tools? I remember seeing that many of your fired clay pieces and metal tools survived the unfortunate accident. Since I tend to play educational articles for long durations, I would be partial to longer run times. I also imagine teachers using your experimental archaeology as a learning tool in their classrooms; so longer articles would be a blessing to them as well