Agave Roast

This is an horno, or river rock-lined cooking pit. 

 

Step one, clear the rock cover.

Step 2 dig out the dirt and coals from last baking session.

Step 3 light the fire!

 

And burn until there is a very large bed of coals to do the cooking.

Start in the afternoon and finish after dark. Set down a layer of greens (agave leaves work fine) before wrapping the agave in wet burlap and setting on the bed of coals.

Cover with more greens and dirt to keep in the heat.   THEN start up another fire over top of all that and build up a smaller bed of coals over the agave before covering it with dirt.

Wait a couple days and we'll see how it looks...

Agave Roast (Part 2)

OK, Saturday morning and time to dig up the agave.

First look it appears to be done just right.

Albert is our resident expert and he agrees.  We discovered later that it may have been slightly on the undercooked side toward the center, but it sure tasted good!

The leaf stubs were cut up and brave people would step right up and try it. There are lots and lots of fibers in the leaves, so all you can do is chew it up a bit and then spit out the fibers.

I took a taste of the center part at the top which has fiber, but not the stringy kind - very digestable. And very tasty. To me a kind of smoked artichoke taste.  The lower leaves had strong smoky, almost barbecue taste, but the pulp is sweeter than the center top tasted. The best time to harvest and roast agave is when they are just beginning to send up a stalk.  They put all the sugars into the stem for growth and flower production, so it is super sweet then.  We had to take one before that time as there weren't any others closer and the event was today.

I dare say this little guy liked it even better than I did and had more than I did which is saying a lot!



Agave Roast (part 1)

I dug up and cut the agave. After cutting all the leaves it was probably a good 40 - 50 lbs.

 A coworker tended the fire, or rather the first fire.

We placed the agave on the deep bed of coals, put in plenty of green to keep it moist and covered the whole deal with dirt.  I tended the fire on top of that and covered the upper bed of coals with more dirt.  The agave roasts for 2 or 3 days and is ready for eating.  This is a Murphy's Agave and not the typical tequilla agave, although I would imagine one could ferment this type as well.

This is all covered until no smoke comes out.  The coals (both above and below) will smolder and cook the agave heart.

This is all in preparation for the Ancient Technology Day at Pueblo Grande Museum.