The Story of Mezcal Part XNUMX
XNUMX years living in Mexico,
“Showing the true face of Mexico to the world!'
with the motto
I'm Kou Iwasaki, a licensed tour guide and driver in Mexico.
mezcal.
☝☝☝Unlike “Tequila”, there are many types.
Those who cannot drink alcohol,
If you don't like it, you may not be interested, but...
Made from a plant called maguey that symbolizes Mexico,
Because it is a liquor that symbolizes Mexico,
The cultural aspect may help a little.
in Japan,
Japanese sake and shochu
Leaving aside the discussion of tastes,
Isn't it the history and culture of Japan itself?
Gaijin also
You are enthusiastic about visiting sake breweries.
Mezcal is Mexican sole. (smile)
Around May in April,
for about five times,
I remember writing the "Mexican Liquor" series.
Among them, I think I touched on mezcal a little.
The famous tequila
In a broad sense, it is a kind of mezcal.
mezcal,
I write Mezcal,
It has existed since Mesoamerican times.
Nahuatl
Mezcalli
is the etymology.
The thing is
From the time of Mesoamerica, before the arrival of the Spaniards,
Already drunk alcoholic beverages! ?
Hmm~~~,
my answer isNO.
However,
Among archaeologists,
Some people say YES.
Mescal is
Distilled liquorI mean,
To make distilled spirits,
If you don't have a distiller, you're useless.
☟☟☟ Distiller.It's a little hard to see, but
The pipe in the back is the distiller.
It is heated by burning fire in the kiln below.
I think that there are many people who do not know much about alcohol,
A brief explanation of distillation
For sake,
Broadly speaking, there are two
brewed and distilled spirits
There is
If you say in Japan,
Sake is brewed liquor,
Shochu is a distilled liquor.
Shochu is stronger.
This is because shochu is a distilled liquor.
The boiling point of alcohol is about XNUMX degrees.
When alcohol mixed with water is heated,
before water with a boiling point of XNUMX degrees
The alcohol will start to evaporate.
Collect this gas and
When cooled, it will return to liquid form.
This liquid
It is a more pure alcohol with water removed,
It becomes shochu, mezcal (tequila), brandy, and whiskey.
extreme story,
The same principle applies to rubbing alcohol.
So
metal for distillation,
I need copper in particular.
In Mesoamerica, the technology itself for processing metal is
Although it was Mysteca and Prepecha culture,
It wasn't until I made a distiller.
Indeed archaeological evidence of metal stills
So far“not found”.
Among archaeologists,
“There was a distiller”
There are people who say
What they call a distiller is“earthenware”What is it?
By saying
I'm going to use the earthenware to make distilled liquor,
"Can not"That's right.
That means
It turns out that there was no distiller.
So,
My answer at the moment is NO
Actually“maybe”,
It may have been made in some other way.
It would be interesting to find scientific evidence.
About distillation
It's been a little long, but (bitter smile)
in Mexico,
There were trade routes with two foreign countries.
Veracruz on the Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico) side,
Acapulco and Manzanillo on the Pacific side.
to Veracruz,
It goes without saying that European culture
On the Pacific side, mainly the Philippines, which was a Spanish colony at the time,
Asian culture has entered.
In fact,
Huichol cultural area on the Pacific side,
Distillation near present-day Jalisco and Nayarit
Filipino technology remainsIt seems.
(☝ I haven't seen it yet. I'll try next time lol)
In XNUMX,
Trade with Manila began with galleons,
Were you brought to the land of Mexico?Filipinos are
Distilled liquor is made from coconuts,
then the spanish
Applied to maguey (agave), which is the raw material of mezcal (tequila),
There is a document from a government agency that
In any case,
Mescal in Mesoamerica,
In other words, the possibility that distilled liquor was drunk,
can't confirm for now,
It is a story.
So,
"What is the origin of mezcal?"
If asked,
the Spaniards came
"After XNUMX"
That's the answer.
That's how
Actually this time
Leaving aside the difficult talk,
"The Charm of Mezcal"
I thought I was going to talk about it hotly, but (laughs)
The time has come. (Shin)
Look forward to the next time~
#MexicoCentralTours
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