Jalisco the blue agave plant. It is the most famous type of mezcal produced in Mexico, and the only mezcal which is produced industrially with strict standards. The tequila industry supports large scale cultivation of the blue agave, with about 200,000 people employed through it directly or indirectly. It is named after a small town northwest of the city of Guadalajara in the center of where it is produced and the native region of the blue agave. The plant was used in pre-Hispanic times to make a ceremonial drink. The Spanish used the sweet heart of the mature plant, called a
Agave mitis (2.4 inches) long. Agave mitis Agave mitis is a plant species native to the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí, referred to as "Agave celsii" in many publications. "Agave mitis" forms rosettes of blue-green to yellow-green, fleshy leaves up to 60 cm (2 feet) long. The leaves have soft brown spines not nearly as imposing as those of other agaves. The flowering stalk is up to 2.5 m (8 feet)tall, with the flowers closely appressed against the stem forming a narrow column much more compact than most other species of the genus. Flowers are green, each up