SC - fermented cactus beer

[Ben Engelsberg]

The Agave plant is indeed the origin of pulque.  It is often considered a
Cacti. although I'm not sure if that is actually it's correct taxonomy.

On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Huette von Ahrens wrote:

> I just did a dumb thing.  I deleted the message I
> wanted to answer!  Sorry!
> 
> Anyway, Ras, my first reaction to your question about
> cactus was "Pulque".  So I looked it up in the
> Encyclopedia Britannica, and found that it too was
> from the Agave plant.  
> 
> "PULQUE
> 
> Mexican beer, cloudy and whitish in appearance, with
> sour buttermilk-like flavour, and about 6 percent
> alcohol content. It is made from fermented agua miel
> ("honey water"), the sap of the agave, or maguey,
> plant (often called century plant), collected by
> cutting the flower bud from a four- to six-year-old
> plant, leaving a basinlike 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 percent 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 unaged,
> 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
> (pulquerías). 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." 
> 
> However, this passage is from another related entry:
> 
> "BEER
> 
> Types of beer
> 
> Beverages similar to beer are produced in Japan (sake,
> from rice) and Mexico (pulque, from cactus). In
> Nigeria and South Africa, malted sorghum is used to
> produce burukutu and Kaffir beers. "
> 
> So, this seems to say that pulque is from cactus!
> 
> Huette
> 
> 
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