The Opelousas courier., 1888-02-04
MEXICAN DRINK.
pulque, What it is, How it is
Made and How it is Taken.
It is Only the Fermented Juice
of the CenturyPlant.

the Boston Herald's Mexico correspon-
dent, I have received several letters
from the States inquiring about the
national beverage Of Mexico, the fer
mented juice of the maguey plant, pop
ularly known as pulque pronounced
pootkay).
1t may be said, with historical ac-
curacy, that pulque, or, as the Aztec
name is, ''octli," was not known to
other tribes than the Aztecs, and it may
be called their peculiar beverage. How
the discovery OF the thirst allaying pro-
.perties of the juice of the maguey
was made nobody knows, but l
cannot help believing that the
plant was destined by Providence to
furnish the drink OF the jewellers on the
tablelands where, for six or seven
months in the year, little rain falls, and
where men grow phenominally thirsty,
owing to the dryness and thinness Of
the atmosphere. Many a time l have
slaKrd my thirst in country villages
with a huge draught of pulquc and felt
Immediately refreshed and strengthened,
for that pulquo is a tonic is undis-
putable.
The maguey is a hardy plant, and by a
new process fer manufacturing ibres it
is destined to yield asomuch money for
fibre as it now gives for pulque, and
that, too, after its pulque yielding
period is over. It is a vegetable COW,
or reindeer, with a score of uses. The
Indians find in it needles, thread, Irvine
and fuel, besides drink. What they
would do without this strange octopus
like plant I cannot imagine.
TIL, magueyo is nothing more or less
than the century plant" which you
see on American lawns, where it is cul-
tivated as an exotic, and has to be
housed on the approach of frost. A
great maguey hacienda is a fae
sight, with its miles and miles of
great plants armed with an ininitude of
spines, and through which you see the
poems going about like some sort of
queer insects sucking the juice from the
efloreseent plant by means of the
strengthening instrument. From some
of the plantations an annual income c~
from 500, 900 to 5000, 600 is derived
by the fortunate owners, who, for the
most part, live in luxury in graf houses
in the City of Mexico, or are, tozS-s,
driving in the Bots in Paris, or szdning
themselves on Italian terraces. Buy o
big tract of land, set out 40, 900 maguey
plants, wait from five to eight years, and
your fortune and that of your children
is made.
The magueys are set out some five
feet apart in rows, like soldiers on
parade, and the spectacle of ahuge plain
filed with giant magueys is imposing
enough. When the hampe or Towering
stalk is formed, the maguey begins to
yield 's~aguamiel' or honey water, tast-
ing not unlike maple sugar sap. To be
able to ascertain exactly the time of
Towering is the great art, and in this
the older Indians of the maguey hacien-
das excel. When the maguey is on the
point Of Towering, the radical leaves,
which have been lying on the ground,
suddenly lift themselves, and seemingly
endeavor to form a tent.like canopy
over the Towering stalk. The central
bunch of leaves, the heart, or s'corazon,"
becomes of a beautiful green color, and
extends itself quickly.
When the Towering stalk begins to
form, the Indian laborers cut the Cora
zon" and gradually open the wound,
covering it with the great lateralleaves,
which they draw over the 'tcorazon, !"
tying them in place. The maguey, UNI
able to produce a flower, secretes a great
quantity of the swedish juice described
above. From this artificial we'll the In
dian draws juice several times a day for
two or three months. Often the plants
yield fifteen quarts daily. OUT of the
dry, gravelly ground comes this wonder
full quantity of juice. The plant, on
Towering, may fairly be valued at S. or
So. After having yielded its juice, the
stalk perishes, but avery great number
of shoots start up, which may be set out
in new ground to keep 5p the plantation.
After the "tlachiquero," OF juice
sucker, has extracted the aguamiel, he
takes his pigskin to tho point where it's
emptied into huge casks for fermenta-
ton. A little sour pulque is added to
accelerate fermentation, and in three or
four days the operation is completed, and
you have the pulque of the shops, on
acid, buttermilk sort Of beverage, for
which most foreigners must acquire a
taste, although I myself liked pulque
from the first taste.
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