Get Roasted

That agave won’t just start fermenting, you know. You’ve gotta make it delicious for yeast before yeast makes it delicious for you. We talk with mezcalera Catalina Lopez Velasco about how that’s done, then talk about how mezcalero Eduardo Angeles saved Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca, from drought. (Season 1, Episode 3)

Episode-related pictures below, some with links

Harvesting the piña

Cooking agave in an earthen oven

An autoclave steams large quantities of agave

Maestra Mezcalera Catalina Lopez Velasco

Sweet horno in Oaxaca's Mixteca region

One of the reservoirs in Santa Catarina Minas

Draft plan for the Ixcatlan water project

Lalocura bottle

Filling the earthen pit oven with stones that, once heated, will in turn cook the agave