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 shrevei slowly compared to larger agaves. Some of the indigenous peoples of the region consume the plant as a food source. The immature flowering stalks are sweet and juicy and easy to harvest. People either eat them raw or brew them into alcoholic beverages. The leaf bases are also edible, but require roasting to destroy unpleasant chemical compounds Agave shrevei Agave shrevei is a member of the family Asparagaceae, indigenous to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico, along the boundary between the states of Chihuahua and Sonora. Two subspecies are currently recognized, although a third has been proposed ("A. shrevei" subsp.