Who doesn’t love tequila? The entire show of pouring out salt onto your hand, getting your lime ready, and then immediately going salt to tequila to lemon is one of Americans’ favorite past times. We emphasize Americans because that is actually not the way tequila is supposed to be enjoyed!
A lot of work goes into making the wonderful drink. It all starts with succulents called blue agave. A majority of them grow in Jalisco, Mexico, making this a very popular industry for the city.
Because of this, many tequila distilleries are located. Most tequila really is made in Mexico.
The pina is where the tequila comes from. The tall leaves of the blue agave plant protect the pina, so harvesters called jimadors have to break it apart to get to the good stuff. The pina itself could weight 80 to about 200 pounds!
The harvested pina’s are then brought to distilleries to be steamed in order to begin the process of extracting the juice. They get the juice out and then leave it to ferment to make the tequila.
It’s left for several days in order for the sugars to convert to alcohol. It’s then distilled once or twice and boom – Tequila! Then, it’s done and shipped out for consumption.
Next time you have some tequila, think about the process it goes through and treat it with the respect it deserves!