Nikas Culinaria

(This post will appear on The Spirit World blog, a member of the Well Fed Network)

I received a sample of the 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar some time ago and it has been quite a journey as I developed recipes for this interesting product.

The Partida Tequila company makes their tequila, as you might expect, from blue agave plants, a succulent that dwells in the arid lands around Jalisco, Mexico. One can also make nectar from these interesting plants and let me assure you, this nectar is quite a wonder. For one, it is sweeter than table sugar. It looks like a thin honey as it is less viscous. It tastes a bit like honey although it’s flavor is not a dominant thing. The most important thing, ok - to me, is that it is fantastically low on the glycemic scale.

Get this, pure agave nectar has a GI of 11 while white sugar is 100. A 10th of the glycemic impact of sugar!

Today I have two drink recipes and one food recipe to show you just a very few possibilities for working with agave nectar.

The first is one I tested just today. Its a nod to the south of the border origin of the nectar as it uses chocolate and it’s consistency is something Montezuma would love - thick and potent.

Blue Agave Nectar Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C chocolate powder
• 1/2 C hot water
• 4 tablespoons 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 3 squares Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 3/4 C Fat Free 1/2 and 1/2

Directions:

Combine agave nectar, cinnamon, chocolate powder and hot water in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Mix until incorporated. Add Ghirardelli chocolate squares and then the fat free 1/2 and 1/2, heat until its smooth. Froth with an immersion blender. Do not not add marshmallows if you want to keep the GI low.
I had my rather fussy toddler give it a try and she loved it, even though it was made with grown-up unsweetened chocolate. She liked it with and without the marshmallows.

The second recipe is one that you will see all over the web and I will repeat it here but, since I do not drink tequila, I have not taste tested it. Its not hard to imagine that it is delicious!

Partida Agave Margarita

• 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 3/4 oz 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• 3/4 oz spring water
• 1.5 oz Partida Tequila Blanco, Reposado, or Anejo

Mix it all up in a bucket (or your favorite container), and serve over ice or chilled in a margarita glass.

The third and final recipe is one I developed a couple of weeks ago and, as you likely remember, covered in more detail at this post here.

Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal sweetened with agave nectar and passion fruit gastrique

Ingredients:

• 2 passion fruits
• 3 unsulfered dried organic apricots, sliced thinly
• 1 tablespoon 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• 1 teaspoon Alessi White Balsamic Fig Infused Vinegar
• 3 tablespoons water

Directions:

In a small pan over medium heat, combine the scooped out pulpy seeds of the 2 passion fruits, the sliced apricots, 1 tablespoon of the Agave Nectar, 1 teaspoon of the fig vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of water. Simmer this down until it thickens to your desire consistency. You may need to add some water to thin or simmer longer to get it thicker, up to you! I put the syrup through a strainer to get rid of most of the midnight black seeds (which have these very interesting little divots across their surface) as they didn’t seem very edible to me.

When I served this all up, I put some agave nectar in the oatmeal and stirred it up. I put the oatmeal into the bacon round (secured with a bit of wooden skewer) and then drizzled it with the gastrique and added a bit of apricot. The remainder of apricots were put into a passion fruit rind. Do NOT eat raw passion fruit rind (has cyanide compounds in it).

I hope that these three recipes opened your eyes to the possibilities of agave nectar.

I plan on doing more work with chocolate because when I was making the hot chocolate, I saw how perfectly agave nectar married/melded with the chocolate (I feared it might seize but it didn’t).

Low GI chocolate sauce, oh how thou callest my name.

Products of Interest:

• Partida Tequila Blanco, Reposado, or Anejo
• 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• Alessi White Balsamic Fig Infused Vinegar
• Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

Sites of Interest:

• Partida Tequila

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