is this cannibalism

[Chez2]

I have seen the farms around our village harvesting sugar beet. I live on the southern border of South Yorkshire. I've seen them dropped by the roadside when they have been overloaded and not covered.

I have never been tempted to try agave syrup or aloe drinks either. Care to share what they are like?

[Paul in Essex]

I've tried most of the agave-based products. Some more than others

Agave syrup (=agave nectar) is very, very sweet and almost tasteless. It isn't nectar from the flowers but a product made from the sap that is treated to stop it fermenting and also to concentrate it.

Aguamiel is the name of the juice that forms inside the shell of an agave that has had the incipient flower spike cut out, leaving a well for the sap to accumulate. It is also very sweet but with a slightly unpleasant eggy undertone. It is a rustic drink.

Pulche is the next stage on - if you leave this sap inside the agave and allow it to ferment it becomes an alcoholic drink. It has been a part of indigenous Mexican culture for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. A friend of mine summed up the taste as being something like a cross between cider and sewerage. Also a rustic drink.

Tequila and mescal. Quite familiar. Both made from sap collected from the steamed (tequila) or roasted (mescal) piña that is distilled into a liquor. The difference is comparable to champagne vs sparkling wine - made from Agave tequilana in the Tequila region it is tequila, made from any other agave elsewhere is mescal. It is a brand name, no measure of quality. Mescal and tequila that have been aged in wooden barrels are IMO every bit as subtle and full of nuances of flavour as the finest cognacs. It doesn't have a worm in it generally.

[Chez2]

Thanks Paul. Not sure I'm tempted.

[MalcolmP2]

I seem to remember that the process required some chemical addition .... and a large amount of energy to remove the large amount of water in which you extract the sucrose.

Yes, all true, IF you wanted to get nice dry white crystals of sugar to put in a fancy paper bag on a shelf !
But for wine you would use the sugar in water solution and ferment it. As per a parsnip or carrot etc wine.
However, I only said "and once thought it might be a good idea", it proved not to be a good idea ! Maybe ok for those who can grow good beet, , , , and like home made root wines. I much prefer blackberry and elderberry

Sorry Tina, I've disturbed your topic too much already, so I'll shut up now

[el48tel]

I seem to remember that the process required some chemical addition .... and a large amount of energy to remove the large amount of water in which you extract the sucrose.

Yes, all true, IF you wanted to get nice dry white crystals of sugar to put in a fancy paper bag on a shelf !
But for wine you would use the sugar in water solution and ferment it. As per a parsnip or carrot etc wine.
However, I only said "and once thought it might be a good idea", it proved not to be a good idea ! Maybe ok for those who can grow good beet, , , , and like home made root wines. I much prefer blackberry and elderberry

Sorry Tina, I've disturbed your topic too much already, so I'll shut up now

I agree - I'll shut up too, Tina

[Tina]

All discussion is good , chat away.

[el48tel]

All discussion is good , chat away.