Why it is such an incredible plant, and what makes it different

The Agave: Incredible Facts and Figures About the World’s Most Interesting Plant

https://tastetequila.com/2018/the-agave-incredible-facts-and-figures-about-the-worlds-most-interesting-plant/

This is Dr Saldaña Blog:

http://www.anatomiadelmezcal.com/en/#!/agave/los_botanicos_del_agave

Dr. Ivan Saldaña Oyarzábal, earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology/Biochemistry from the University of Sussex, in Great Britain, and is co-founder of Montelobos Mezcal

“The chemical complexity of the agave is out of this world when compared to the other group of plants. 

Agaves, with such a long life span … from 6, up to 35 years, had to fight for it´s survival. This is a biological example of resistance. They evolve in harsh conditions.

This chemistry is really chemical weapons in order to fight back against predators. From big mammals who want to eat them, to bacteria or fungi/yeast that also wants to benefit from the great amount of sugar and water that an agave is able to hold in the midst of scarcity.”

“I believe, of course, in the art of the distiller, but the reason tequila and mezcal are so incredibly attractive, is because of the raw material. If we really think our business is only in making alcohol out of agave, we are losing a great opportunity to indulge ourselves and others, trapping a much more delicate and interesting story while we taste what we do in our brand’s products. So I really think that we have to look back into the agave and start to think how creatively we can bring wonderful things to others.”

So “quality control” is more about consistency and a dependence on additives and coloring to maintain it. It’s a shame that additives have taken over such a large portion of the tequila world. Is the consumer demanding a strict adherence to consistency, or is there a place for slight variations created in the natural process?

“Agaves are monocots. Monocots, the first ancestors appeared 200 million years ago. Agave, an American plant, appeared 12 million years ago.”

“And it’s only 11,000 years that we [humans] met in this continent, and 2,500 years ago we started to plant and to grow agaves here.”

Agaves are close related to :

When you look at the genes, their morphology, thinking about these semi-circular things with leaves coming from the center, they share all of that. Some, maybe the leaves are underground like in an onion, or giving a shadow like in a palm tree, but they share variation biology.”

“There [are] around 200 to 150 species of agave, and I’m going to show you some examples. It’s very arbitrary, what is really a species and what is not, and how much time we should be putting effort to identify that. Or for what reasons we are looking at those differentiations.”

“Most of the agaves are in Mexico, I think most of you know. We have, of course, some mezcal in Venezuela called ‘cocuy’ that they produce in really small amounts: it’s probably one of the southern most that are utilized for spirits in Venezuela. We also have some agave in the south of the United States, and Oaxaca, and then Jalisco, and then Michoacan. [They] are the most biodiverse states with the agaves.”

“Ingredients for evolution: 3 things. You have a multiplication factor, so you are able to create new individuals. A viability factor, that is a mixture of things. One is gene combinations of different populations that are close by, or families, let’s say. And an element that is random called mutation.”

“So, every now and then our genes change randomly, we change information and suddenly that could have some sense, and brings us to a new place. So when you do a lot of different individuals that are genetically different you create choices. Difference, opportunities, when the selective force arrives.”

“That’s the third ingredient, something that will press a population, will kill, or will [incapacitate] some to reproduce, and you will have a fewer number of individuals that will get multiplied again and then will have viability and then will be selected again, and when you repeat that millions of times you finish with a different variety.”

“That’s why Oaxaca has so much diversity, because it’s one of the most accidental geographies in this country. Jalisco also has an incredible accidental conditions and different weathers and altitudes because you get isolation and you let selective forces to work in particular areas and that’s when some day one plant cannot cross to another plant so they can not be called the same species anymore.”

Through evolution the agave had to find solutions to physical stress, like the succulence (the ability to capture water), cuticle (all the waxes you find in the surface, so in the very hot days our plants do not dehydrate), and other chemical, nasty solutions to keeping away all sorts of bacteria and insects (which are typically saponenes), or the oxylates (which are these crystals that scratch you, when the workers, the jimadores, are taking the leaves out, they get harmed.)”

“Some of the adaptations that are unique, and that makes agave such a different plant: The succulence of water storage, the root systems (you’re going to see some photos later on), they can grow in hours if you have very harsh conditions and some rains come down they start to invest and they produce secondary roots to absorb the water as fast as they can because many of these agaves live in very porous soils that let water go away.”

“Nocturnal CO2 fixation, so they control when to open this little window. They do it at night when conditions are fresher and during the day when there is heat, they use the waxes to close themselves as not to lose water.”

“Storage of the specialized sugars, fructans, a very clever solution to herbivores. If you try to eat raw agave you die of diarrhea a couple of days after. Then we later on learned that if we roast those agaves we not only make sugars but caramels. That’s another thing why it tastes so good, all these spirits, because we produce a lot of flavorful molecules when we burn those sugars.”

“They have a rosette structure, very beautiful. They follow a fibonacci sequence… they have very intelligent leaves, that maximize the surface for photosynthesis, they never shadow one against the other and everything is arranged that you have a cenital light in agave, each leave will have its maximum potential of absorbing light, which is quite outstanding. It’s concave, so it will bring the water, even though it’s a slight rain, immediately to the center of the plant where the root system is most concentrated, and it will be able to recharge its source of water.”


Microscopic view of agave plant: “That thing is a needle of oxalate is what makes you the dermatitis. We also have very wide, big, fatty, full of water cells that allow the storage of resources.”

“The root system. This is an experiment of putting fresh water to a drought-stressed blue agave and measuring how fast the roots start to grow in order to capture water as soon as they can.”


“Terpenes. Very interesting. Vanillin is within this group of molecules. We get it from the barrels, but we get it from the plant as well. There are studies on terpenes and you can reach up to 35 to 40 different terpenes in an agave plant.”

“The gin producers are looking for them. But they cheat. Well, they don’t “cheat”, but they go and they get many plants and they put it in alcohol and then they distill it again. We have the luxury of being able to get it [from one plant].”

“All of the proportions of these things, and its synthesis is based on the environmental conditions in which the plants grow. So, you will not get exactly the same proportion of terpenes from agaves growing in certain conditions than in others.”

“If, and only if, water is scarce, the dependence of photosynthesis is based on how much water is present, agave are the most efficient water use plants on earth.”