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Blue Agave
Blue Agave

I have blue agave plants in my Tucson but this plant is courtesy of Wikipedia which help I support. With an ongoing small donation.

Agave tequilana, commonly called blue agave (agave azul) or tequila agave, is an agave plant that is an important economic product of Jalisco, Mexico, due to its role as the base ingredient of tequila, a popular distilled beverage. The high production of sugars named agavins, mostly fructose, in the core of the plant is the main characteristic that makes it suitable for the preparation of alcoholic beverages.

Blue agave
Agave tequilana 1.jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom:
Plantae
Clade:
Tracheophytes
Clade:
Angiosperms
Clade:
Monocots
Order:
Asparagales
Family:
Asparagaceae
Subfamily:
Agavoideae
Genus:
Agave
Species:
A. tequilana
Binomial name
Agave tequilana
F.A.C.Weber
Synonyms[1]
Agave angustifolia subsp. tequilana (F.A.C.Weber) Valenz.-Zap. & Nabhan
Agave palmeris Trel.
Agave pedrosana Trel.
Agave pes-mulae Trel.
Agave pseudotequilana Trel.
Agave subtilis Trel.
The tequila agave is native to the states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Aguascalientes in Mexico. The plant favors altitudes of more than 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) and grows in rich and sandy soils. Blue agave plants grow into large succulents, with spiky fleshy leaves, that can reach over 2 metres (7 ft) in height. Blue agaves sprout a stalk (quiote) when about five years old that can grow an additional 5 metres (16 ft); they are topped with yellow flowers.[2][3] The stalk is cut off from commercial plants so the plant will put more energy into the heart.[4]

The flowers are pollinated by the greater long-nosed bat (and by insects and hummingbirds) and produce several thousand seeds per plant, many of them sterile. The plant then dies. Cultivated plants are reproduced by planting the previously removed shoots; this has led to a considerable loss of genetic diversity in cultivated blue agave.

It is rarely kept as a houseplant, but a 50-year-old blue agave in Boston grew a 9 m (30 ft) stalk requiring a hole in the greenhouse roof and flowered in the summer of 2006.[5]

Tequila production
Edit

Agave azul

Agave tequilana 'Weber's Azul'
Tequila is made only from a specific cultivar of Agave tequilana called 'Weber Azul'. The plant is from the Asparagaceae family. This cultivar is larger and blue-gray in color compared to the smaller and green normal A. tequilana. It is a rapid grower and prolific offsetter in keeping with its agricultural advantages. Tequila is produced by removing the heart (piña) of the plant in its seventh to fourteenth year (depending on growth rate and whims of harvester). Harvested piñas normally weigh 40–90 kg (80–200 lb).[4] This heart is stripped of its leaves and heated to convert the inulin to sugars. Then the roasted core is pressed or crushed to release the sugary clear liquid called aguamiel, which is, in turn, fermented and distilled into alcohol. Tequila is also made with a sugar formulation 51% agave and 49% other sugars. These tequilas are referred to as Mixtos.[6]

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Taken on: March 13, 2023
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Blue Blue Everybody's photos tagged with Agave Agave
Sets appears in:   • March 2023 in Photos   
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