Interesting Facts to Know about Tequila
Interesting Facts to Know about Tequila – When you are in Mexico, you can find many kinds of great foods. There are many street markets where you can find tacos, burritos, and other Mexican foods that will surely be tasty. However, it will not be complete when you do not try tequila. This is the nice drink produced by Mexicans. This is authentic and original drinks of Mexicans and this is type of alcoholic drink. It is produced by the process of distillation and it uses special ingredients that can be found in Mexico. You may need to know further information about it, and you can check the details below.
Tequila is surely authentic drinks of Mexicans. The main ingredient is the agave Weber blue. There can be many kinds of agave plants, but only the Weber blue that can be perfectly made into tasty tequila. In addition, you should know that only five areas of Mexico that can produce the tequila. These are related to the plants needed to make the drink. The main production can be found in Jalisco and it is said as the home of tequila because 90% of tequilas are produced in this area. The other four places are Michoacan, Nayarit, Guanajuanto, and Tamaulipas. Even, these places are called as DOT or Denomination of Tequila. As what is mentioned before, there are many species of agave. There are 125 species of them that can be found in Mexico. However, weber blue is the only one that can be produced to make tequila. The name of weber blue is related the first person who classified the plants. It was a German botanist and it is called as blue because of the blue hue found in the part of the plants that make people able to identify it easily.
As for the history, production of tequila was started in the 250-300 AD during the civilization of Aztecs. At that time, the people made a drink called pulque. It was made of the sweet sap harvested in the agave. The sap is fermented to produce the liquid that they would drink during special occasions, such as during ceremonies and sacred rituals. The perfect form of tequila was found when the Spanish people came to the land of Mexico in 16th century. At that time, the Spanish people run out of brandy. Thus, they used their knowledge and used the distilled processes to turn the pulque into better drink. The first mass-production of tequila occurred in 1600 and it is continued until now. Then, tequila becomes one of the identities of Mexicans and people from many countries also love to drink the tequilas.
As for the production process, most time needed in the production is to wait for the plants to be ready. The agave plants should be mature so these can be harvested. It requires at least 6 years. Even, the agave plants in the highlands can require longer duration to reach maturity and it can be up to 12 years. There are special farmers dedicated to grow and harvest the plants. They use special method and tools to harvest the ingredients of tequila perfectly. The farmers are usually called as jimadors. Regarding the agave plants, some people think that it is part of cactus family.
Although there are similarities, in fact it is not true. There can be spiky appearance, but it belongs to agavoideae family so it is not similar to cactus. The mature plants can reach up to 7 feet tall. What are harvested from the agave plants are the agave heart called pinas because they look like pineapple. The pinas are harvested and cooked. After that, these are ground and fermented through distillation process. The cultivation surely takes time and it is different from wines. In wines, what are needed are the fruits so the plants can still be continued to grow other fruits. As for the agave, farmers should grow the plant again from scratch after the harvest.
In addition to nice taste of tequila, the drink also has some health benefits. One of them is related to weight loss. The tequila contains agavins and it is type of indigestible sugar. This will be able to stimulate metabolism of the body. Then, tequila is healthy for the heart. It can lower the level of bad cholesterol in the body and at the same time increase the level of good cholesterol. Thus, drinking it will have good impacts on the body, especially the heart. Even, a shot of tequila after meal can be helpful for digestion. When you drink a shot before meal, you can stimulate your appetite. As for the post-meal, it will help the digestion so it will be more effective. Compared to vodka, this can be considered better for those who cannot take gluten. Tequila is mainly produced from the agave plant so it doe not use wheat. Thus, there is no gluten.
