Tequila And Agave

Term Paper Title	Tequila And Agave
# of Words	684
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.74

Tequila And Agave

     Although thought to be mostly a coarse drink  made from the Mexican or Blue Agave plant, tequila and other products of the agave plant have a major economic impact on Mexico and are used in many applications throughout the world. The agave plant has been used in Mexico for thousands of years but the distillation process used to make tequila was brought to the Aztecs by the Spaniards in the fifteenth century.

The Agave plant is actually a very slow growing plant and it is reported to only  flower once or twice every three or four years in excellent conditions and as few as five times in a hundred years in poor conditions. Poor weather can result in no production for a period of several years. However the plant itself is very resilient  and can survive in very hostile low water conditions.
     The agave�s flowers however may reach up to 20 ft. and grow very rapidly. The plant is harvested  by cutting of the top of the flower shoot and collecting the sap. One plant may yield as much as 1000 liters of sap in optimal conditions. This is the pulgue sap that is fermented to make mescal (the national drink of Mexico) and later distilled twice and aged to make tequila.
Some of the other products that are made with the sap include soap, tortilla flavoring, a chemical for stunning fish, a vitamin mixture for livestock, and a chemical to enhance the whiteness of the pulp in paper making.
Agave is actually a monocot in the Sisal Family, Agavacae. There are 12 genera and 400 species  that make all sorts of  products from sisal hemp (rope like fiber) to medicines and drinks such as tequila and mescal. They are flowering plants that have rosettes of large succulent leaves and short spines. Most plants are found in tropical and subtropical regions and particularly in arid areas.
     Tequila is the product of agave we are going to concentrate on the most here. The drink, named for the town of Tequila in the state of Jalisco where it is produced, has become a favorite of the ave...

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