Pulque, ‘nectar of the gods’, under threat?
5 January 2005
Over the holidays, I was interested to read Claire Marshall’s BBC report that in Mexico, producers are warning that pulque is in danger of extinction.
This is certainly borne out by Don Lotter’s excellent column – Pulque: Mexico’s unique and vanishing drink – for NewFarm.org, which is well worth a read.
My father-in-law extracts the sap from the flower stalks of the maguey cacti in his garden (pictured left). This he then strings up beneath a mesquite tree to ferment for his own use later on. (Distill pulque and you get a form of mezcal – a close relative of tequila). The result is a drink with a very tart flavour and milky hue. Doña Reyna, a neighbour, also uses pulque as a leavener for making her wonderful bread.
Nevertheless, I think Don is right when he asserts that “most middle class Mexicans turn up their noses at the mention of pulque”, considering it a crude drink that is often abused by campesinos.
Filed in: Gastronomy, Tolimán
