Agave americana flavored with the very pungent mezcal worm. "Mezcal" and "tequila", although also produced from agave plants, are different from "pulque" in their technique for extracting the sugars from the heart of the plant, and in that they are distilled spirits. In "mezcal" and "tequila" production, the sugars are extracted from the "piñas" (or hearts) by heating them in ovens, rather than by collecting "aguamiel" from the plant's cut stalk. Thus, if one were to distill "pulque", it would not be a form of "mezcal", but rather a different drink. Agave nectar is marketed as a natural form of sugar with
Agave macroacantha to 3 m (10 feet) in height. The plant prefers a dry, sunny and hot location for summer and from early autumn onwards a cooler, well-lit space. It likes regular watering in summer and only minimum watering in winter, and will fare well in a large pot with sparse, gravelly soil. In the UK this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. Agave macroacantha Agave macroacantha, the black-spined agave or large-thorned agave, is a species of succulent flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family naturally occurring in Oaxaca and also near the town of Tehuacan in the