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Based on 25 years of travel and research that led the author Howard Scott Gentry from the United States to Panama, Agaves of Continental North America, (University of Arizona Press, 1998) is the ultimate guide to agaves and a timely second printing of a classic.
How to explain the popularity of agaves? These plants are among the easiest to
plant and grow. "All that is needed is to dig up or pull up a young offset and
bury its base in moist or dry soil," the author writes. "If it does not strike
root and grow in the first season, the chances are good that it will the next."
Consequently, the ease of cultivation led to its use for at least 9,000 years.
The flowers can be boiled and scrambled with eggs. In northeastern Mexico, agave
leaves are fed to livestock. Perhaps the most notable products of agaves are
beverages. Fermented, agave is used to produce pulque. Or it can be fermented and
distilled -- a process unknown in pre-Colombian Mexico -- to produce tequila and mezcal.
To order Agaves of Continental North America from Amazon.com, click
here.
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Each of the 136 species native to continental North America is examined in a
separate essay covering taxonomic description, distinguishing features,
distribution and habitat. The text is supplemented with pictures, line drawings
and maps.
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