Tequila(te ji la )

Tequila practice:

Raw materials for making tequila:

Maguey agave.

Production steps of tequila:

It takes 8 to 10 years from cultivation to harvest for maguiagave. After harvest, the leaves of maguiagave should be picked first, and then the root of the plant should be cut into pieces at 78cm. After being heated by steam pot, the starch can be turned into sugar. After being juiced, a kind of sweet juice can be obtained. This juice is fermented and distilled by continuous distillation, that is, the alcohol content can reach 4 Tequila with natural flavor of tequila is about 5 degrees.

Tequila features:

The rugged and forthright tequila is deeply loved by Mexican Indians due to its unique raw materials. Tequila is a kind of strong liquor with heavy body. It is very popular in North America, especially in university campuses. It is very suitable for mixing cocktails. In recent years, many cocktails are made of tequila, juice and liqueur.

tequila

synonym

Tequila generally refers to tequila

Tequila is Mexico's national wine, known as the soul of Mexico. It began to become known to the world when Mexico held the Olympic Games. The liquor is a kind of distilled liquor made from Agave.

Tequila wine is often used as base wine to make all kinds of cocktails. Common cocktails include Tequila Sunrise, bullfighter, frost Marguerite, etc.

Historical origin

In the third century, the Indian civilization living in Central America had already discovered the technology of fermenting wine. They used any available sugar source in their life to make wine. Tequila, which was rich in sugar and juicy, naturally became the raw material for making wine. Pulque wine is produced by fermentation of tequila juice.

Before the conquerors of Spain brought distillation to the new world on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, tequila remained as a pure fermented wine. Later, they tried to use distillation to improve the alcohol content of pulque, and the tequila based distilled liquor was produced. Because this new product successfully replaced wine and became the object of mass consumption of these colonists, it got the name of Mezcal wine.

After a long time of trial and improvement, the embryonic form of mealwine gradually evolved into Mezcal / tequila, which is the name of the town rich in this wine.

Wine classification

Tequila--Tequila

Tequila -- tequila, only in certain areas, using a plant called blue agave as the raw material to manufacture such products, is qualified to be named tequila.

 

Pulque

Pulque, a fermented wine made from the heart of Agave grass, was first discovered by the ancient Indian civilization. It has a great use in religion and is also the basic prototype of all agave wines.

 

Mezcal--Mezcal

Mezcal -- Mezcal is the general name of all distilled liquors made from tequila grass heart. In short, tequila can be said to be a kind of Mezcal, but not all Mezcal can be called tequila.

 

Grade standard

Blanco and Plata

Blanco and Plata, respectively, mean "white" and "silver" in Spanish. In the field of tequila, it can be regarded as a kind of wine that is not aged and does not need to be aged in oak barrels. The time limit for Blanco grade tequila to be put into oak barrels is 30 days at most.

 

Joven abocado

Joven abocado, which means "young and smooth" in Spanish, is also often called Oro (golden). In terms of classification, this kind of wine belongs to mixto. Theoretically, there is no superior product made of 100% tequila.

 

Reposado

Reposado, which means "rested" in Spanish, means that the wine of this grade has been aged in oak barrels for a certain period of time, but it is still less than one year old. Storage in barrels usually makes the taste of tequila stronger and more complex, because the wine will absorb some of the flavor or even color of oak barrels. The longer the time, the darker the color. Reposado has been on display for between two months and a year.

 

Añejo

In Spanish, the original meaning of a NIA EJO is "aged". In short, the wine that has been aged in oak barrels for more than one year belongs to this grade, and there is no upper limit. They must be stored in oak barrels with a capacity of no more than 350 liters and sealed by government officials. Although it is stipulated that anything over one year can be called a ň EJO, generally speaking, experts agree that the most suitable aging period for tequila wine is four to five years. After that, the essence in the barrel will volatilize too much.

 

Production technology

Production process

It takes 12 years for agave plants to mature. Tequila wine manufacturers cut off the outer leaves of the mature agave and take its central part (meaning pineapple). The spiny fruit weighs up to 150 pounds. The fruit is full of sweet and sticky juice, and then put it into the oven for cooking. In this way, the sweet juice is concentrated and the starch is dissolved Convert to sugars. The boiled Pina is then sent to another machine to be extruded into juice for fermentation, and the juice is distilled when the fermentation reaches 80 degrees. Tequila is distilled twice in copper single distillation. It is transparent and colorless. It is called white tequila, and its taste is choking. Another kind of gold tequila is named for its light amber color. It is usually stored in oak barrels for at least one year, and its taste is similar to brandy.

 

Brewing steps

Classification of raw materials

Tequila wine uses a very special and strange source of sugar - sugar contained in the juice of the heart (bulb) of tequila grass.

 

Among several tequila liquors, tequila uses the juice of blue agave as raw material. According to the soil, climate and cultivation methods, this plant has an average growth period of eight to 14 years. In contrast, other tequila varieties used by Mezcal generally have shorter growth period than blue agave.

According to the law, as long as more than 51% of the raw materials used are blue agave grass, the wine produced is qualified to be called tequila. The insufficient raw material is to add other kinds of sugar (usually sugar extracted from sugarcane), which is called mixto.

 

cooking process

When the raw materials arrive at the distillery, they are usually cross cut into four pieces for further cooking. Remove the wax or residue on the outside of the grass core, because these substances will become the source of bitterness in the cooking process. Distilleries using modern equipment use high-temperature steam to achieve the same effect.

Traditionally, distilleries use steam chambers or stone or brick ovens called Horno in Spanish to slowly soften the cut heart, which can take up to 50 to 72 hours. When roasted at a low temperature of 60-85 ℃, the plant fiber will soften slowly and release the natural juice, but it will not scorch because of too strong and too fast fire, making the juice bitter or unnecessarily consuming valuable fermentable sugar. In addition, another advantage of baking tequila in an oven is that it has a better way to keep the original flavor of the plant. In traditional distilleries, the heart of tequila is cooked and allowed to cool for 24 to 36 hours before being ground to remove pulp.

 

When the tequila hearts are completely softened and cooled, the workers break them with a big hammer and move them to a giant mill called tahona, which is traditionally pushed by donkeys or cattle. As for the extract of the tequila juice (known as aquamiel, which means sugar water), after mixing some pure water, put it into the VAT and wait for fermentation.

 

fermentation process

After cooking, the workers will sprinkle yeast on tepache juice for fermentation. The container used for fermentation of tepache juice may be wood or modern stainless steel wine

Chinese PinYin : Te Ji La