Agave Tequilana is more commonly known as Blue Agave is a plant native to Jalisco, Mexico and a large part of their economic product. The plant is used as the base ingredient for making tequila. The plant naturally produces large amounts of sugar, specifically fructose, and therefore, it is a perfect ingredient for distillation processes for making alcoholic beverages. The flower is naturally pollinated by a bat that is also native to the area and each plant produces thousands of seeds.
Because Agave makes such a high amount of very sugary nectar, it is starting to become popular for things other than tequila preparation. For example, since it is a natural sugar, the agave nectar is become the choice sweetener for many health conscious people. The Agave nectar is slightly less thick than honey and sweet and often comparable to honey. It is easily obtained from the plant, does not easily ruin (therefore can be transported), and is fairly simple to integrate it into all kinds of foods or processes it to make it more usable.
Agave syrup is made from combinations of nectar that are obtained from various types of agave plants. The nectar from each type of plant is obtained in various ways (because each plant has a slightly different anatomy) and then the nectar is heated to allow hydrolysis of the polysaccharides. After this point the nectar from each type of agave plant are combined and further processed to create a Blue Agave syrup which can be manufactured and sold.
Agave syrup is said to be almost twice as sweet as sugar so less of it can be used to obtain similar effect. Also, it has health benefits, unlike the use of sugar.
Agave nectar and syrup are a healthy alternative for using sugar in your cooking and baking recipes.