Mescal Agave Use in Arizona: Food, Fiber, and Vessel

AZ Speaks presents ethnobotanist Carrie Cannon for this expedition into the heart of mescal agave. Used by native peoples for numerous utilitarian items, mescal served as a valuable food source, still being harvested and prepared to this day by many indigenous groups. For millennia people have pit roasted the heart of the plant yielding a nutritious food staple rich in calcium and zinc. This talk includes the life history of mescal, the multitude of tribal uses of this intriguing plant, and a long relationship spanning from centuries ago into the modern era.

Carrie Cannon is a member of the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma and of Oglala Lakota descent, and is currently employed with the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources. Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Chapter of the Arizona Native Plant Society.