62 violence #00Take a step back, observe a hill cultivated with agave and note the similarity with the anti-tank barbed wire fortifications. violence #01When ripe, therefore not earlier than six years, the succulent agave swells its center, from which the radical leaves begin to rise, sign of an imminent flowering. At this point, with a sharp spoon, one can reach the heart of the plant and remove it together with the young stem. Capar. The result is a hole with a diameter of at least 30 centimeters, in which the plant begins to pour its lymph, poetically called by the Mexicans aguamiel, honey water. violence #02Mexico is certainly on the wrong side of the border to be regarded as a quiet one. Its roughness, temper and intensity of fun can be found in pulque, drink that quenched thirst and fed those who had nothing. It is in fact an inexpensive natural access to a rich dose of carbohydrates, amino acids and vitamins. This is pulque, agave’s fermented lymph, sole water source until two centuries ago for some poor and desolate territories of Mesoamerica. violence #03Picazo. This is the name of the hole obtained into the heart of agave. For a period that can last up to six months, the plant pours 3 to 4 litres of lymph per day in the hollow. It is a man's task to extract it and put it to ferment. At the time of the Aztecs, ox leather and, over time, clay oils and wooden vats were used for this purpose. The result of this procedure is the progenitor drink of Tequila and Mezcal, perhaps defeated by beer, which went from priestly honours to the poorest gorges.
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