Tobaziche (Agave Karwinskii)

The maguey known in Miahuatlán as Tobaziche is an increasingly rare agave endemic to this region. The Tobaziche was one of the many native magueyes nearly eradicated from the area when, in the 1980’s, industrial producers from Jalisco bought up local agaves en masse, encouraging farmers to replace them with Espadín. Prized for its beauty and sugar content, this variety of Agave karwinskii is relatively slow to mature, taking around 16 years before it is ready to harvest.

When the plants are young, the Tobaziche greatly resembles the Madrecuixe, another karwinskii varietal, though there are some clear distinctions between the two. Tobaziches have greener pencas, differently shaped spines, and a rosette that takes a slightly more oval form as the plant gets larger. As they approach maturity, Tobaziches will grow significantly larger than a Madrecuixe, commonly reaching 5-7 feet in height and developing piñas that can weigh well over 300 lbs. It is an agave that is able to reproduce from seed as well as through its root system, though interestingly, the the Miahuatlán Tobaziche is often found growing in beds of agave cultivated from Madrecuixe seedstock. Tobaziche is generally a cultivated, or semi-cultivated varietal, but because of its bizarre relationship to the Madrecuixe, small feral populations do exist.