For 400 years, the traditions and folklore of Mexico have been sprinkled with references to tequila. According to legend, pulque was discovered when lightning struck a field of agave and an aromatic nectar began to drip from the charred hearts of the plant. Revering the agave as sacred, mystical and divine, the Aztecs considered the liquid a gift from the gods and drank it at religious ceremonies.
The agave is a succulent with long, sword-shaped leaves and spiked flowers. Because its habitat is shared with the cactus, it's often mistaken for one. There are nine types and more than 100 species of agave, and, according to archaeologists, the plant has been cultivated for 9,000 years.
Often confused with mezcal, tequila is a form of mezcal in the same way that cognac is a form of brandy. Like the designation protecting cognac, true tequila is produced only from blue agave, which grows in a precisely delineated area in the Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas states of Mexico. Tequila is double, sometimes triple, distilled. Mezcal, on the other hand, originated in the state of Oaxaca and is produced throughout Mexico from several different agave species, distilled once, although premium blends may be distilled twice. Harvested younger than those of the blue agave, which take eight to 14 years to mature, the sugar-rich agave hearts, or piñas, used to make mezcal are baked in pit ovens. Tequila piñas are baked or steamed in aboveground ovens. Tequila takes a decade to manufacture and is distilled and fermented under strict government regulations. The Norma Oficial Mexicana is Mexico's tequila law, enacted in 1949, 76 years after the spirit was first exported to El Paso, Texas. "Tequila" takes its name from the town of Tequila in the state of Jalisco in central Mexico, where tequila production originated and continues to this day. The private, nonprofit Tequila Regulatory Council oversees every aspect of production, from agave cultivation to bottling to labeling. Motivated by cultural pride and to prevent foreign knockoffs, the Denomination of Origin law recognizes tequila and mezcal as distinct products of Mexico, with intellectual property rights.
From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
