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 was a major food source for the prehistoric indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. The Hohokam of southern Arizona cultivated large areas of agave. The Navajo similarly found many uses for the agave plant. A beverage is squeezed from the baked fibers, and the heads can be baked or boiled, pounded into flat sheets, sun dried, and stored for future use. The baked, dried heads are also boiled and made into an edible paste, eaten whole, or made into soup. The leaves are eaten boiled, and the young, tender flowering stalks and shoots are roasted and eaten as well.