Mexican pulque beer - sounds, uh, great. Anyone tried?
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From |
"B Morey" <bernardmorey at optushome dot com dot au> |
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Date |
Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:06:06 +1000 |
Pulque -- Mexican beer, cloudy and whitish in hue with sour
buttermilk-like flavour and about 6% alcohol content. It is made from
the fermented sap of agua miel ("honey water") of the agave, or
maguey, plant, collected by cutting the flower bud from a four- to
six-year-old plant leaving a basin-like cavity. After several months
the cavity walls and surrounding leaf bases are scraped, the first sap
is drawn, and the plant refills, providing up to 15 pints a day until
it dies.
The sap, containing approximately 10% sugar, is fermented in vats for
several days, often with the addition of previously fermented pulque
(madre pulque) to hasten the process.
The freshly fermented beverage is consumed un-aged, still containing
suspended yeast cells, sometimes with added fruit-juice flavouring
(pulque curado). It is sold in containers, sometimes pasteurized
before bottling, or by the barrel to drinking houses (pulquerias). An
important and inexpensive source of carbohydrates, amino acids, and
vitamins for Mexico's lower-income population, pulque may in some
regions provide the major liquid intake during the dry season.
