From nature’s world of cactus, we have sisal.  It is part of the cactus family of agave (Agave sisalana).

It’s not only used to make sisal rugs, but also other products such as hats, bags, cat scratch post, and much more.

The leaves have very pointy looking tips.  They also produce flowers too. Photo from Wikipedia.

The plants are grown in large plantations in such places as Brazil. Sisal prefer tropical warm climate and is drought tolerate. They are propagated from bulbils or rhizomes from mature plants. They take about 3 to 5 years to mature and can produced leaves for up to 8 years. And like hemp, chemical fertilizer is not used in growing sisal. So that is a plus for sisal farmers.

The top 3 sisal producing countries are Brazil, Tanzania, and China.  Other countries that produce and export sisal include South Africa and Kenya.

In sisal production, the leaves are dried, then brushed with a machine, and finally pressed into bales to be exported.  Pretty simple but I’m sure is hard work!

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Agave isn’t just grown for it’s syrup. It’s actually a very pretty ornamental succulent that could liven up any yard. Especially yards in in the South West or Western part of the U.S. I came across these great photos of different varieties of agave used in landscaping in California from Sunset magazine. I aspire to have a dessert garden someday.

“The light green leaves of a colony of A. attenuata contrast in this combo with the nearly black rosettes of Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’.” - Sunset Magazine. I like the contrast of green and deep purple in this garden.

“The thick spine-tipped leaves of Agave parryi add a touch of blue to the yellow-greens of sedums, aloes, and aeonium.” -Sunset Magazine. I really like this combo of 4 different types of succulents. The large aloe would provide me with great aloe vera gel.

I don’t think of myself as having much of a sweet tooth as I enjoy eating fruits more then candy. But once in a while I can satisfy my need for sweets with a cup of fruit infusion tea and add a small teaspoon of agave syrup. I also like to add it to my cup of coffee too. It has a light sweetness to it. But I have not tried it with pancakes or baking yet.

Agave syrup is something new I’ve come across. I have noticed some fruit drinks use agave syrup as a sweetener too. It’s much sweeter then honey and it’s from the same plant used to make tequila. It’s made from the nectar of the blue agave plant, which is grown mostly in central Mexico. In Popular Science’s article, Agave Nectar, A Sweetener for Any Occasion, they described how the juices are expressed from the core of the plants and then processed to produce the nectar. Then after the juices are extracted, they are heated to break down the carbohydrates.

larryn2009 of flickr.com took this nice picture of blue agave plants at the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens. They look like they are easy to grow in a sunny climate. I might have actually seen a few of these grown as landscaping in California.

Time magazine wrote in it’s June 2008 issue that the future of agave syrup does look promising. It’s interest has grown amongst heath conscious people. And popularity has grown in countries such as Germany, New Zealand, and Japan. And in the U.S. , many food manufacturers want to add it to drinks, ice cream, ketchup, amongst other recipes.

Cane sugar and honey are fine as natural sweeteners, they are better than high fructose corn syrup. But agave syrup surpasses them all. And you don’t need to use as much, as the sweetness is concentrated. And if you are diabetic, the The Chicago Tribune adds, “It scores around 20 on the glycemic index, a measure of how quickly carbohydrates break down during digestion. Cane or beet sugar scores around 70. Agave nectar’s score is so low on the scale that diabetics can use it as a sugar substitute.” Ingested sugar is still burned as energy or stored as fat, so you still have to be careful to not over indulge on agave syrup. It has plenty of calories and you can find yourself needing to exercise more!

Madhava Agave comes in different flavors too. Imagine adding this to your morning coffee! Sweet Cactus Farms also sells agave syrup. And Madhava Agave has a great photo gallery of the farm and these interesting looking plants.