Unit 3 - Lesson 5 - Agave Flashcards
How big are agave plants
20-90kg
What are agave plants called?
Piñas
What is the primary sugar in Agave?
Fructans which are polymers of fructose
What is the main fructan found in Agave?
Inulin
How long are inulin chains?
2-60 units linked together
How does sugar increase in piñas?
Grows as they age
How do you get Fructose our of inulin?
Heat which breaks down the chains
What is the traditional method of heating agave inulin for tequila?
Piñas cooked inside a stone-lined earthen pit
3m wide
Use oak or pine with larger rocks around the wood
Creates a dome where the piñas sit atop the rocks
Piñas covered with straw or agave bits
And then cover in dirt
Cooks for serval days
Otherways to cook piñas
In Hornos - made of brick, clay, or ceramics. Some can reach enormous sizes, capable of holding over 40 t of agave
Heated by steam injection
What happens in a horno?
Inulin breaksdown
Agave is washed of its bitter waxes and dirt
How do large scale producers cook piñas?
Through autoclave - a pressure cooker
Describe an autoclave function
- autoclave loaded with Piñas
- Closed, locked and sealed
- Steam is pumped in creating pressure
- Initial steam melts agave wax and dirt
- Steam heats un pressure to 1.2kg/cm2 (118 kPa) and 121° C
- Steamed turned off and piñas cook for 8-16hr
4 methods to cook agave
- Traditional in buried pits. (several days)
- in Hornos or ovens (36-48h)
- Autoclave - steam pressure cooked (8-16h)
- Diffuser
Why is a diffuser controversial for agave?
Designed to maximize sugar capture and people think they lose flavor
Sometime use sulphuric acid to breakdown fructans
How does a diffuser work?
- Plant material must be broken down before entering
- piñas chopped and shredded
- fibres feed into diffuser that are pressurized and sprayed with hot water and steam
- This rinse fructans
5, Juices moved to autoclaves - Sometime sulphuric acid is used to accelerate Fructan breackdown
