Abstract
Pulqueis a traditional Mexican fermented, non-distilled alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting the fresh sap (aguamiel) extracted from severalAgave(maguey) species cultivated for pulque production (mainlyA. salmiana). This beverage was produced and consumed since Pre-Hispanic times by Mesoamerican civilizations, mainly in the Mexican Central Plateau, and is one of the essential alcoholic beverages produced and consumed during several centuries in Mexico. By 2019, annual pulque production was reported in 171,482 billion liters. Nevertheless, traditional pulque production faces several significant limitations, including the disappearance of large agave plantations and the extent of time required (at least 5 years) to complete the plant maturation for aguamiel extraction; traditional production practices; and the lack of an efficient stabilization process of the fermented product resulting in low shelf life. In opposition, successful examples of sustainable cultivation of maguey species for aguamiel extraction and the fermentation process's industrialization resulted in high-quality pulque production, with international exportation certification. In this contribution, we present a review of the most relevant aspects of the history and commercial relevance of pulque, the causes that resulted in its production debacle during the first half of the twentieth century, the current situation of its traditional production, and the successful efforts of industrial production of the beverage. We describe recent results on the analysis of the physicochemical characteristics of aguamiel and on the microbiology of the beverage explored by metagenomic techniques that can be proposed as a baseline to redefine the quality criteria of the beverage and to define for the first time a microbiological core to optimize its production. We describe the relevance of maguey species for aguamiel production as a fundamental element of agroforestry and the relevance of its sustainable production, in four sustainable plantation models to maintain a stable plant population to ensure the continuous extraction of aguamiel and pulque production. Finally, we describe some successful examples of beverage industrialization and potential applications of several microorganisms isolated from aguamiel, pulque, aguamiel concentrates, and the maguey to produce high-value bioactive products.
Highlights
Pulque is a traditional Mexican non-distilled, alcoholic fermented beverage, produced by fermentation of the fresh sap or aguamiel, extracted from several species of Agave or maguey pulquero species (Table 1; Escalante et al, 2016)
We describe the current procedures for traditional aguamiel extraction and pulque production methods and how recent results on the analysis and stability of the physicochemical profile of aguamiel and the microbiology of the beverage led to propose a new baseline to redefine the quality criteria and to define for the first time a microbiological core to optimize its production; and the relevance of the sustainable cultivation of the maguey species used for aguamiel production as a fundamental element of an agroforestry system
Today there is a general perception that pulque is a popular beverage that has practically disappeared from urban markets and just sold in pulquerías, some restaurants, and rural locations
Summary
Pulque is a traditional Mexican non-distilled, alcoholic fermented beverage, produced by fermentation of the fresh sap or aguamiel, extracted from several species of Agave or maguey pulquero species (plants for pulque production) (Table 1; Escalante et al, 2016). The larger maguey plantations for aguamiel extraction and pulque production are located in the States of Hidalgo, México, Tlaxcala, and Puebla (Figure 1A), but are distributed in a lower extent in other states such as Mexico City, Coahuila, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Morelos (Mora-López et al, 2011; Escalante et al, 2016; Moreno-Terrazas et al, 2017; Chacón-Vargas et al, 2020; Rocha-Arriaga et al, 2020; Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera, 2021).
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