Pulque, The Secret Traditional Tequila of the Aztecs You may not know tequila has a secret long lost ancestor which has risen from the dead? Pulque, the drink of Aztec spiritual ceremony, human sacrifice and celebration is tequila’s old ancestor, with reports of its production ranging from age-old African legend to as late as the 16th century. Pulque is an authentic natural liquor of Mexico. The drink’s history stretches long ago into the Mesoamerican period, when it was initially thought to be sacred, and its application was confined to certain groups of individuals. The term “pulque” comes from Nahuatl. The first term of the spirit was “iztac octli” which means to white wine. The phrase pulque was surely wrongly produced by the Spanish from the “octli poliuhqui” which translates to “spoiled wine”. The label pulque, sometimes known as octli, is a milk-colored, considerably viscous alcoholic drink made out of the fermented juice of the maguey. There are one hundred and thirty six styles of the agave plant, but yet just six types of maguey are employed for producing pulque. The Spanish Conquistadors fermented and brewed pulque originally as a result of lack of beer, wines, rums and brandy. Secret archeology is disputed with numerous people believing evidence of Pre-hispanic distillation in long ago China as well as Africa, and yet these views continue to be very disputed. Fermentation comes together by a complex succession of yeast and bacteria that manufacture ethanol, a assortment of chemical ingredients, and several polymers that give a sticky consistency to the final product. Pulque can be mixed with fresh fruits or vegetables, but yet has poor stability since it is neither distilled nor pasteurized.
It’s not well-known who designed pulque. Its origins go back in any case ten centuries. A range of stories and legends have developed concerning its origins. Virtually all involve Mayahuel, the goddess of the maguey. It was believed the aguamiel accumulating down the middle of the agave was her blood. Additional deities, just like the Centzon Totochtin (400 rabbits) are connected to pulque, by representing the drink’s influences, and they are the children of Mayahuel.
Yet another variant regarding Mayahuel shows her as a human woman who found out the way to collect aguamiel however another person named Pantecalt found out the steps to making pulque.
Another story claims that pulque was discovered by the Tlacuache (opossum), who utilized his human-like hands to burrow into the maguey and acquire the naturally fermenting liquid. He became the first intoxicated living thing. Tlacuache was thought to set the course of estuaries and rivers. The streams he arranged were generally straight except when he was intoxicated. Then they follow Tlacuache’s winding journey from cantina to cantina.
A final storyline records the discovery of aguamiel to the Toltec Empire, when a royal named Papantzin was trying to get the emperor to wed his daughter Xochitl. He delivered her to the palace with an offering of aguamiel. The emperor and princess married, and their boy was called Meconetzin (maguey boy). In a 2nd variety of this narrative, Xochitl is acknowledged with discovering pulque.
