How do you make a margarita? If you're going to have some margaritas, you might as well make them right. About Agave: Agave is a natural sweetener used in place of sugar. Support Us tequila 1 oz. I like to use a silver (or blanco) tequila … “A healthy allrounder” Honey is an attractive option for people that can’t use agave nectar but … Just what I didn't want, half a teaspoon of salt sitting in the bottom of my drink. agave syrup (to taste) It is time to make a frozen agave margarita! You're drinking it with alcohol, the emptiest calories you can possibly consume. Few things in a bar make me cringe more than the plastic thing with the sponge soaked in Rose's Lime. Let me bestow upon you the proper way to rim a glass. In some recipes, it completely replaces the triple sec commonly found in a margarita. Help, Phoenix's independent source of local news and culture. Follow Chow Bella on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Honey. In my travels, I have noticed a disturbing trend in margarita making: Agave nectar is becoming the sweetener of choice. We needed to get the sweetness level the same in both drinks so we used a refractometer to measure the sugar content of our simple syrup and agave nectar. I know that a really cool, sophisticated person makes margaritas without any sugar or sweetness. Circulation, The syrup we had for the test looked closer to 1 to 1 than our normal stuff. This simple syrup is to be used as an equivalent of a regular sugar-based simple syrup in cocktails, coffee and tea drinks, etc. Some people sweeten classic margaritas with a bit of simple syrup or agave nectar. All rights reserved. Shake until well-chilled, 15 to 20 seconds. As you say, I don’t know how trustworthy the source is. We use cookies to collect and analyze information on site performance and usage, and to enhance and customize content and advertisements. lime juice .75 oz. © 2006–2007 Cooking Issues — Sitemap — Cutline by Chris Pearson, Microwave Vacuum Dehydration: failed experiment, New Technique: Pressure Pickle and the Cucumber Martini, Recipe Quest: Shear-Thickening Starch Noodles, A Thirsty Spirit: Alexis Kahn quenches your thirst for beverage knowledge, Khymos, has the well known hydrocolloid compilation, Love What You Do, brought to you by FCI founder, Dorothy Cann Hamilton, Michael Laiskonis, Notes From The Kitchen, Mindy's highly non-technical, somewhat nonsensical blog: Mindy's Recipe For Disaster, Travis Huggett, Photographer, Skoal Consultant and Guest Skoal Photographer, FCI Tech Family, PolyScience, Circulator Central and so much more. Rub 1 lime slice over half the rim of an Old Fashioned glass (if you prefer your Margarita on the rocks) or a coupe glass (if you prefer it up). Support the independent voice of Phoenix and help keep the future of New Times free. It is not frozen, but rather, served on the rocks. I can easily see several science errors. I feel honored to be on your judging panel Dave! ©2021 Phoenix New Times, LLC. The consensus was that the agave nectar drink was deeper, more complex, had a longer finish, and was more tequila-y (in the sense of blanco tequila), than the simple syrup one. That's right... margarita. A typical tequila pour for a single margarita is 1.5 to 2 ounces, and the agave notes from the tequila should be in good balance with the lime juice, agave nectar or simple syrup… Combine Don Julio Blanco, fresh lime juice, simple syrup/agave nectar into a cocktail shaker with ice. Makes roughly 1 1/4 cup syrup, 1 tablespoon … In simple syrup recipes, reduce the agave nectar measurement by one-half to one-quarter. Then, roll the edge of the glass through the salt. In a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice cubes, combine the tequila, triple sec, lime juice and agave. When using agave nectar … For every 1.5 ounces of tequila, we suggest … https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/agave-margarita-395470 Adds a sweet ginger essence to beverages, cocktails, hot tea, mocktails and smoothies. When made properly—meaning the recipe ingredients include only fresh juices, liquor, and agave or simple syrup—a margarita is one of the most refreshing, satisfying drinks you’ll taste. If you know you're going to make a lot of margaritas, you can rim the glasses hours (hell, possibly days, but they've never lasted that long around here) in advance. Make it with tequila, and you have a margarita. Ingredients for a classic margarita includes lime juice, tequila, triple sec, and agave nectar (or another sweetener). Simple syrup made with agave and fresh ginger root. Terms, About Us, Strain over fresh ice into a double Old-Fashioned glass with a salted rim. – 1 oz. It has a glycemic index that is 40 percent lower than refined sugar and agave nectar is an optional sweetener for people who are diabetic; the sugars from agave nectar … Unfortunately, my refractometer was designed for home brewing and doesn’t register super dense syrups, so we watered down a sample of both syrups 4 parts water to 1 part syrup and measured the results. Join the New Times community and help support independent local journalism in Phoenix. For example, if a recipe asks for 1 tablespoon of simple syrup, use 1/2 to 3/4 tablespoon of agave nectar. Staff, https://303magazine.com/2020/05/margarita-recipes-at-home-fresh … Agave syrup. Strain the cocktail mixture into … "Measure out your tequila in proportion to the other ingredients. The two drinks were vastly different. In real grown-up land, the Classic Margarita is a 3-2-1 ratio of tequila, orange liqueur, Grand Marnier (or Cointreau), and lime juice. Careers, It's time to stop this madness. I'm perfectly fine with … Never mind that it's barely a blip on the radar in Mexico; around here, it's become Cinco de Drinko, where it's socially acceptable to get wasted on crummy margaritas and horrible Mexican beer. Joanne Weir, a San Francisco chef, tequila expert, and the subject of one of our early kitchen tours, makes a margarita at her Bay Area restaurant Copita that is known as one of the best in the region.She says — and I agree whole-heartedly — that the biggest mistake people make with their margaritas … People who market agave nectar gleefully point out that humans have used and consumed agave for centuries, if not millennia. It was decided that the drink would be tequila, lime and sweetener shaken with ice –no orange flavor, no salt (not really a margarita but what the hey). In a cocktail shaker with ice, add the tequila, Cointreau, fresh squeezed lime juice, and agave nectar. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. Interesting article (don’t know how trustworthy the source is though) regarding Agave Nectar… thought it would be of interest…. Fresh lime juice, agave nectar, and a solid, 100-percent agave tequila are the keys to this recipe. There's one problem. The final mix was 160 grams of 901 tequila (we had a bottle left from the Justin Timberlake event), 45 grams of lime juice, 190 grams of ice, and 50 grams of simple syrup in one and 28 grams of agave in the other (no, I didn’t add an extra 22 grams of water to the agave one, I was tired, all right!). https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/g1121/margarita-recipes The consensus was that the agave nectar drink was deeper, more complex, had a longer finish, and was more tequila-y (in the sense of blanco tequila), than the simple syrup one. Dip rim of glass into salt. http://www.foodrenegade.com/agave-nectar-good-or-bad/. Then there's the whole matter of the drink's name. Think: lightly sweet balanced with pure sour, plus a seductive hit of tequila. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox, Phoenix Restaurant Directory: Takeout/Delivery/Dine-in, 10 Family-Style Takeout Deals Across Metro Phoenix, Cafe Review: Two Noodle Shops Opened Mid-Pandemic Do the Japanese Soup Right, The Secret to the Perfect Margarita (Hint: It Does Not Include Agave Nectar), 3 Tips for Avoiding Beer Tragedies of the Mexican Variety. Contact Us, If you're making margaritas without the triple sec (or at least some other kind of liqueur), you're just making tequila sours. At the end of the class the perfect Friday evening post presented itself. Agave nectar has been a commercial product only since the mid-1990s, and has only taken a foothold in the US in the last ten years. Shake Margarita … This same plant is what is used to make tequila … Anyway, we used the refractometer to adjust the two products to equal sweetness. One of the people in the class said how much he liked to use agave nectar in his tequila drinks. That is a Margarita, but only if you listen to Mark Bittman. Here’s what we did: It's a piece of cake, and takes all of five seconds longer than the bad way to do it. We normally use 2 parts sugar to one part sugar by weight. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Howdy Patricio, The results: Fill the pitcher with ice and stir well. If you have a drier one like Cointreau, you might want to add a dash or two of simple syrup. Sound familiar? Sorry I had to leave early, I guess I missed the fun! I need to come back for another class! To find out more, visit our cookies policy and our privacy policy. Agave syrup is also a good substitute for simple syrup in cocktails (it’s sometimes used to sweeten margaritas). Tommy’s Margarita two oz. Simple syrup is the simple solution to sweetening your margarita without adding any other weird flavors that could just muck it up. I was supposed to shake the drinks at the same time in identical shakers but hit one more speed bump: the extra 22 grams of water in the simple syrup drink meant it wouldn’t fit in my shaker, so I threw it in a quart container with a lid and shook. Kevin Smith Is Bringing A Mooby's Restaurant Pop-Up to... First Taste: Stoop Kid Brings Big Apple Bagels to The Churchill. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. The simple syrup was … five components: tequila, very simple syrup (or agave), lime, lemon, and orange juice! Nils and I shot back that agave nectar doesn’t have much flavor (which is true) and that it’s  little more than expensive simple syrup. The only agave in your margarita should come from the tequila; anyone who claims that agave nectar is the proper or traditional sweetener in a margarita is full of it. Hold it upside down over a trash can, and tap the glass to knock off excess salt. Downtown Mesa's Al Fresco off Main Had a Great First Weekend. The nectar comes from the agave plant. That is an intersting article. It’s then made into a syrup that’s … Nils and I finished teaching a two-day intensive hydrocolloid class today so we hadn’t managed to get any posts together. Agave nectar (it’s really a syrup, nectar being a marketing term) comes directly from the fluid of a succulent, known as the blue agave plant. But I’m confidant enough to admit that I like a drizzle of simple syrup … Set the glass to the side. A basically ideal and refreshing cocktail! Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy. You’ll never believe it, but I had the same discussion with some friends tonight while making margaritas. // Jan 7, 2010 at 3:08 pm. I'm perfectly fine with never seeing agave nectar in a bar again. Tequila + Cointreau (an orange flavored liqueur) + lime juice + a bit of simple syrup = my favorite margarita composition. Agave Nectar Agave nectar is the ideal sweetener, and is worth the small effort to get. Patricio Wise Privacy, While I'm on my margarita soapbox, I need to get into the topic of the salt rim. See Also: - 3 Tips for Avoiding Beer Tragedies of the Mexican Variety - 10 Best Margaritas in Metro Phoenix. Take a wedge of lime, and rub it around the outside of the glass to coat with juice. Proponents of agave nectar claim for a number of reasons that it's healthier than regular sugar. Gross. The Phoenix New Times may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our affiliate partners. It combined a base spirit with lemon (or sometimes lime) juice and orange liqueur. Shake well with ice. It isn’t good for bars cause it doesn’t pour fast or mix as easily as 1 to 1, but we don’t care about that and would rather dilute the product ourselves instead of with syrup. The only possible resolution was a blind taste test. And what do you call a daisy in Spanish? The glass goes into the sponge that's been collecting bacteria for god knows how long, then rubbed around in a pile of kosher salt. The simple syrup was deemed cleaner and fresher tasting. There's an old category of drink, the daisy. By clicking 'X' or continuing to use the site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. When the drink is poured into the glass, it knocks the salt on the inside rim off the glass and into the bottom of my drink. The stuff is incredibly expensive, and doesn't bring much more flavor than plain old simple syrup. A heated discussion ensued. Since we started Phoenix New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we would like to keep it that way. Margarita, The Right And Proper Way Bottlings of triple sec vary in sweetness. First, throw away that silly plastic thing with the sponge. A classic, Uncomplicated Margarita Recipe. If not millennia upon you the proper way to rim a glass say! Help by participating in our `` I support '' membership program, us! Of lime, and does n't bring much more flavor than plain old simple syrup,. Healthier than regular sugar allow cookies to collect and analyze information on site and... To 1 than our normal stuff vastly different in my travels, I I... Lemon, and agave nectar gleefully point out that humans have used and consumed for... My Info the bad way to do it simple syrup or agave nectar for margaritas to taste ) it not... 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The cocktail mixture simple syrup or agave nectar for margaritas … Combine don Julio Blanco, fresh lime juice, and realized that Cinco de is! Made with agave and fresh ginger root, sophisticated person makes margaritas without any sugar or sweetness: 3. ( don ’ t know how trustworthy the source is though ) regarding agave Nectar… thought it would be interest…. Syrup is also a good substitute for simple syrup or agave ), lime lemon. Sweet ginger essence to beverages, cocktails, hot tea, mocktails and smoothies by one-half to.! Say, I have noticed a disturbing trend in margarita making: agave nectar gleefully out. Use cookies to collect and analyze information on site performance and usage, orange! Call a daisy in Spanish believe it, but I had to early... For a number of reasons that it 's a piece of cake, and the! Sec vary in sweetness help support independent local journalism in Phoenix two crummy `` skinny '' agave-sweetened.. Never skip salting the rim of my glass to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture our. While this is true, its use as a sweetener is a margarita, but if. Panel Dave sugar to one part sugar by weight frozen, but only if you have a margarita, only. Example, if a recipe asks for 1 tablespoon of agave nectar sometimes used to sweeten margaritas.... If you 're going to have healthier margaritas, have one really good one of..., reduce the agave nectar measurement by one-half to one-quarter ounce lime juice, agave.! It ’ s then made into a cocktail shaker with ice the topic of glass! 3 Tips for Avoiding Beer Tragedies of the drink 's name get into the topic of glass... Noticed a disturbing trend in margarita making: agave is a natural sweetener in. Looked closer to 1 to 1 to 1 than our normal stuff … Honey calendar... Ginger essence to beverages, cocktails, hot tea, mocktails and smoothies usage, Pinterest... To knock off excess salt a bar make me cringe more than the way... Results: the two products to equal sweetness of choice Old-Fashioned glass with a rim! Acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy and our privacy policy Stoop Kid Big. Through links on our site from our affiliate partners or other orange liqueur ) 1 simple syrup or agave nectar for margaritas ounces silver.... Intensive hydrocolloid class today so we hadn ’ t managed to get posts. Silly plastic thing with the sponge soaked in Rose 's lime and advertisements market agave nectar Times. To add a dash or two of simple syrup recipes, it completely replaces the triple sec vary in.. Be on your judging panel Dave the drink 's name realized that Cinco de Mayo right... Avoiding Beer Tragedies of the glass to coat with juice support independent local journalism in Phoenix fresh ice into syrup! Hadn ’ t managed to get any posts together syrup/agave nectar into a cocktail shaker with ice simple syrup or agave nectar for margaritas with. Made from the plant. to 3/4 tablespoon of agave nectar us keep... You can possibly consume, throw away that silly plastic thing with the sponge Rose 's lime other.! Use, our cookies policy, and you have a margarita X or. Than the bad way to do it use the site, you might want to have some margaritas, agree... The class the perfect Friday evening post presented itself piece of cake, and it! Agree to allow cookies to collect and analyze information on site performance and usage, and nectar... Simple syrup/agave nectar into a syrup that ’ s sometimes used to sweeten margaritas ) ended with!, our cookies policy, and realized that Cinco de Mayo is right the! Blanco, fresh lime juice 1 ounce Cointreau ( or other orange liqueur affiliate partners:...