Making agave heart pulque.

Pulque was a common drink in Mēxihco Tenōchtitlan when the Spanish first arrived in the early 1500's. It was made from maguey (Agave americana), the species I used in this video. It was lightly fermented but was highly regulated if distilled.

Mescaleros in early Mexico followed the same process, but crushed the pulp by foot and fermented it in rawhides. When it reached maximum fermentation and no longer frothed, it was distilled into mezcal.

Note: the Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.

REFERENCES
Bandelier, A. F. 1890. Final report of investigations among the Indians of the southwestern United States, carried on mainly in the years from 1880 to 1885.
Castetter, Edward F. and M. E. Opler. 1936. The ethnobiology of the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache: the use of plants for foods, beverages, and narcotics.
Castetter, Edward F. and Ruth M. Underhill. 1935. The ethnobiology of the Papago Indians.
Ebeling, Walter. 1986. Handbook of Indian Foods and Fibers of Arid America.
Latorre, Dolores L. and Felipe A. Latorre. 1977. Plants used by the Mexican Kickapoo Indians.
MacNutt, Francis A. (trans., ed.). 1908. Letters of Cortes: the five letters of relation from Fernando Cortes to the Emperor Charles V.
Ohlendorf, Sheila M., Bigelow, Josette M., and Mary M. Standifer (ed. & trans). 1980. Journey to Mexico during the years 1826 to 1834 by Jean Louis Berlandier.
Williams-Dean, Glenna Joyce. 1978. Ethnobotany and cultural ecology of prehistoric man in southwest Texas.
Winship, George Parker (ed). 1904. The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542.

#agave #foraging #ethnobotany #primitivetechnology #survival