maguey

In the past six months or so, I’ve become a little obsessed with flowering maguey.

The maguey, also known as agave, blooms when it’s mature, a process that can take anywhere from 6 to 28 years depending on the plant. Weirdly, the flowers don’t sprout from the leaves themselves — they grow on a trunk-like stalk called a quiote, which grows from the center of the plant like a tree.

I love the idea that a regular old agave can transform into a strange, beautiful plant-within-a-plant when it’s about to die. (It kinda starts to make me believe in the mysticism of the Aztecs. Or maybe I’ve been here too long.) I’ve started spotting flowering magueyes everywhere and taking secret pictures of them on my camera. One day I’m going to post them all for you.

Right now I wanted to ask: how much do you know about maguey flowers as a food source? I know they’re eaten here as a vegetable, when folks can find them.

A few weeks ago I spotted a package at Mercado San Juan and decided to make them as an experiment. The vendor gave me detailed cooking instructions: peel back the outer petals, remove the center stigma, and then boil or sautee in oil, garlic and onion.

I did what she said, except I decided to steam them instead of boil. Cooked ’em in a little onion and garlic and sprinkled on some sea salt.

I was expecting a revelation, like the first time I tasted izote flowers. Instead they were bitter and sort of rubbery. My friend Liz, lover of bitter vegetables, raved about them. The rest of us kinda frowned. I felt bad later that night when I dumped them into the trash. Sorry agave that took maybe six years or longer to give us your flowers. I’m totally not worthy of you.

So how do I cook these? Have you made them before? I tasted them as they cooked on the stove, and they weren’t bitter after about 3 to 5 minutes in the frying pan. But the texture was even more rubbery that way.

What did I do wrong? Maybe I didn’t peel them correctly? Or were they old? (Or not old enough?)