Agave tequilana planting these shoots; this has led to a considerable loss of genetic diversity in cultivated blue agave. It is rarely kept as a houseplant, but a 50-year-old blue agave in Boston grew a stalk requiring a hole in the greenhouse roof and flowered in the summer of 2006. Tequila is made only from a specific cultivar of "Agave tequilana" called 'Weber Azul'. This cultivar is larger and blue-gray in color compared to the smaller and green normal "A. tequilana". It is a rapid grower and prolific offsetter in keeping with its agricultural advantages. Tequila is produced by removing the heart
Agave nectar Agave nectar Agave nectar (more accurately, agave syrup) is a sweetener commercially produced from several species of agave, including "Agave tequilana" (blue agave) and "Agave salmiana". Agave syrup contains fructose as a carbohydrate providing sweetening properties. To produce agave syrup from the "Agave americana" and "A. tequilana" plants, the leaves are cut off the plant after it has been growing for seven to fourteen years. The juice is then extracted from the core of the agave, called the "piña". The juice is filtered, then heated to break the complex components (the polysaccharides) into simple sugars. The main polysaccharide is called