On Food and Cooking

resembles a cactus. Tequila is made mainly by
large distilleries around the northerly city of
Jalisco from the blue agave, Agave tequilana,
while the more rustic mezcal is made by small
producers around central Oaxaca from the
maguey, Agave angustifolia.
The agave stores its energy in the sugar
fructose and the long fructose chains called
inulin (p. 805). Because humans lack an
enzyme for digesting inulin, people have
learned to cook inulin-rich foods for a long
time at a low temperature, a treatment that
breaks the chains into their component sugars,
and also develops an intense and
characteristic browned flavor. Tequila makers
steam the inulin-rich agave hearts, which may
weight 20–100 lb/9–45 kg, while mezcal
producers roast them in large charcoalfired pit
ovens and generate smoky aromas that carry
over into the spirits. The cooked, sweet hearts
are then mashed with water and fermented,
and the resulting alcoholicliquid distilled.