Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tlachiquero (Pulque Gatherer) in Mexico

Tlachiquero Mexico, S. J.

Real Photo postcard postmarked in 1946 from within the US with a 1 cent stamp

the sender writes: The WMU meeting in Mexico was wonderful - such zeal and devotion.  I hope we can help them more in the future.  Writing in Mexico, I will mail this in the U.S.A.  I feel as if I had been away for ages, time is so old in Mexico.  See you in Miami, Julitto 

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A Tlachiquero is a Pulque Gatherer. Pulque is a milk-colored, liquid that produces a light foam. It is made by fermenting the sap of certain types of maguey (agave) plants. 

This plant typically lives only 10 to 30 years.  When it flowers, the bloom may reach up to 8 m (26 ft) in height. It will only flower once at the end of its long life. The plant dies after flowering, but produces suckers or adventitious shoots from the base, which continue its growth. 

It takes a maguey plant twelve years before it is mature enough to produce the sap for pulque. 

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