 Agave Syrup is a natural fructose sweetener extracted from Mexico’s Agave plant. Traditionally, the Native Americans of Mexico gathered the sweet juice, “aguamiel”, from several varieties of agave.
To obtain aguamiel, the quiote is cut off before it grows (when the plant is 7-8 years old). Thus a hole in the center of the plant forms.
Aguamiel is the juice that the plant “prepares” to feed the quiote. It is full of nutrients, as it contains large amounts of carbohydrates. Fructan, vitamins and aminoacids
If this juice is evaporated (boiling to remove the water) the traditional agave syrup is obtained.
The main difference between the traditional Agave syrup and our syrup is that we evaporate our product under vacuum, to lower the evaporating temperature (<40°), the use of enzymes to hydrolyze sugars into fructose/dextrose, and the removal of most salts and aminoacids. This makes our product very clear, sweet and mild flavored, making it ideal as a sweetener.
The first step is the collection of aguamiel which received then on a tank outside the plant, to avoid any spilling in the facilities, where it is coarsely filtered to remove any foreign material that may have fallen into the aguamiel. The aguamiel is then stored in a closed tank inside the plant. From that tank, it is passed through a special process that removes impurities such as aminoacids and minerals. It then arrives to a reactor where the enzymatic hydrolysis takes place, and the hydrolyzed product is pre-heated.
The preheated product is then filtered to remove any impurities that may have remained with the product. The now clean, impurity free product is feed into a vacuum evaporator where it is concentrated into a 75 °Brix syrup.
That syrup is then transported to our plant in Cuquio, where the product is homogenized, the quality analyses are performed, and the finished product is packed.
Agave syrup can be used in the following industries:
• Dairy Industry: Acts as a body enhancer, helps to lower the freezing point of the product, it stabilizes foam and is a flavor enhancer.
• Beverages Industry: It can be used as a sweetener in energy drinks, juices, carbonated and alcoholic drinks, wines, teas. In beer and derived beverages, Agave syrup increases its fermentability.
• Food industry: In jams and fruit products, it can be used as a sweetener. It acts as a plasticizer (gels) and improves the natural shine of the fruits. It gives the same properties to yogurts, puddings and ice creams. In bakery it can be used in the manufacture of cookies, glazing, tops, creamy stuffings, cake, muffins and donuts among other products. Its use is recommended for the manufacture of cereals such as corn flakes, puffed cereals, etc. In the manufacture of granolas and muselines, due to its hygroscopic properties it increases the self life of these products, depending on the used percentage.
• Candy Industries: As a sweetener, it avoids crystallization. Besides, it improves the body of the product, and in fruit-flavored products, it acts as a flavor enhancer. |
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