On the wonder and beauty of pulque, the Mexican drink that’s always local

We're Gastronomads because: The only way to enjoy the world's greatest foods and drinks is to travel. And this is especially true of pulque. If you want to drink good pulque, you have to go to Mexico. It's literally unavailable everywhere else. There's nothing more Mexican than pulque.

Pulque is a milky-white alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the agave plant. It can taste sour or sweet, viscous or watery and flat or fizzy, all depending on the agave used, length of fermentation and flavorings, if any, added by the curator.

Pulque is a delicate, fermented drink with a very short shelf life. And transporting pulque ruins it, so good pulque can't be transported. (In recent years, some makers have figured out how to sell it canned or bottled, but the stuff is nowhere near as good as fresh.)

Only a few agave species are good for making pulque. In Oaxaca, the agaves are called pulqueros. The plants grow for 12 years, give or take a few, depending on the species. When their lifespan is almost done, they shoot a tall seeding stalk out of the top of the plant called quiote. Pulque growers chop this off from the very bottom of the plant, leaving a cylindrical hole in the middle or heart of the plant, called a cajete, which naturally fills with watery sap, called aguamiel (honey water).

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