Origins of tequila: History of Mexico's favorite spirit
Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Mexican-flavor, including drinking the popular spirit tequila. Learn about the rich history of the tasty drink. Salud!
On National Tequila Day, revelers throughout the United States will be getting into the spirit with a glass of their favorite spirit in hand.
But other than its taste or where it’s produced, most of us don’t know a thing about Mexico’s national liquor.
In other words, our collective knowledge of tequila could fit in a shot glass.
In honor of today's holiday, we’re taking a closer look at the history, etymology and growing practices behind the distilled beverage:
Not all agave-based beverages are created equal
In order for a spirit to legally advertise itself as tequila, it must be made from weber blue agave plants grown in a territory specified by the General Declaration of Protection of the Appellation of Origin of "Tequila" (and also manufactured and bottled in facilities therein). Anything else — even if it's made to near-identical standards — is a mezcal, which is the term for any spirit distilled from the agave plant. Therefore, as Food & Wine points out, all tequila is technically mezcal, but not all mezcal can call itself tequila.
WHERE WAS THE MARGARITA INVENTED?
The etymology of the word "Tequila" is a little murky
Tequila gets its name from the town of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico, but the etymology of the word is much more ambiguous, according to the National Resource Center Canada. Some claim it comes from the Nahuatl words "tequitl" and "tlan," which can be translated as "place of work," "place of duty," "place of job," or "place of task" (some take it to mean "place of wild herbs," "place where they cut" or "place of tricks," too). Others say it comes from the names of native tribes once known as the Ticuilas and the Tiquilos. A final theory claims that "tequila" is simply a corruption of the word "tetilla" — meaning "small breast" — which is also the name for the summit of a tiny volcano near Tequila.
Agave plants are pollinated by bats
Agave plants are chiropterophilous, meaning that they’re pollinated by bats as opposed to insects or birds. The plants flower at nighttime, attracting the bats with the smell of rotting, over-ripened fruit. While drinking the nectar, the bats become covered in pollen and spread the grains to other plants. However, agave plants can also reproduce asexually in two different ways: either by vegetative propagation, during which a genetically identical plant grows from part of the original plant; or by producing tiny clone-like growths called bulbils, which are later harvested and re-planted. However, the agave used to produce tequila is often harvested before it has a chance to flower, meaning that most tequila producers don’t rely on bats to pollinate their agave farms.
Ironically, prohibition made tequila more popular
Thanks to prohibition, tequila's popularity in the United States grew during the 1920s. Americans weren't about to sit back and not drink alcohol, and liquor from Mexico was easier to smuggle into the country. Later, during World War II, tequila experienced another boom in popularity when overseas liquor shipments decreased.
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Tequila can (technically) be used to make diamonds
Physicists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico discovered how to make artificial diamonds out of 80-proof tequila, which contains the perfect ratio of ethanol to water for the process. They begin by evaporating the tequila into a vapor, and then they heat that vapor to a temperature of 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the vapor hits a silicon or stainless steel tray, it creates a "diamond film" containing microscopic diamonds free of impurities. Too small for jewelry (as of yet), these diamonds can be used for a wide variety of practical, industrial and electronic purposes. What's more, the scientists say that even the cheapest of tequilas can be made into these diamonds.