🥃 Mezcal with worm (con gusano)

Mezcal with a worm (mezcal con gusano) is mezcal to which, after distillation, a larva is added, the so-called agave worm. Under the standard NOM-070-SCFI-2016 this is the “abocado con” class: ingredients for flavour are added directly to the mezcal, and the agave worm is named among them, alongside damiana, lime, honey, orange and mango.

Such ingredients must be permitted by Mexico's Ministry of Health. The label carries the class “Abocado con”, and only for it does the standard allow up to 60 g/l of dry extract, whereas for other mezcals it is up to 10 g/l. Mezcal blanco or joven by definition undergoes no treatment after distillation, so there can be no worm in it.

Which larva exactly is put in the bottles was long unclear: the caterpillar of the moth Comadia redtenbacheri, the caterpillar of the skipper Aegiale hesperiaris and the larva of a weevil were all named. In 2023 researchers of the Florida Museum of Natural History analysed the DNA and structure of larvae from 21 mezcals: all turned out to be caterpillars of Comadia redtenbacheri, the red “gusano rojo”, or chinicuil. In the bottle they may be white or pink.

According to the review in the same paper, larvae appeared in bottles only in the 1940s–1950s as a marketing device, although mezcal has been made since the 17th century. The caterpillars are gathered in the wild by hand from May to September and are not bred commercially. The plant dies during the harvest, and excessive collecting may threaten local populations.

Why this matters to you. A worm is not a sign of quality or “authenticity”: it is just one of the permitted ingredients of one class. For tequila the standard NOM-006 names among softening additives only caramel, oak extract, glycerine and sugar syrup. WHO: there is no safe dose of alcohol.