Agave leaves

Remember the agave leaves I saw in the supermarket?

I've been doing a bit of googling...

Agave Leaves
1. The agave leaves are harvested in the winter or spring when the sap content is the highest.  The leaves are cut into large chunks and roasted or baked. The roasted leaves have a rich caramel flavor but are highly fibrous so the leaves are chewed and the left-over fibers are thrown out.

2. After the leaves were cut off, the heart of the plant (imaging a giant artichoke) was roasted yielding a sweet nutritious food that is slightly slimy and  tastes like molasses.  This food could be wrapped in the skin of the leaves and stored. Cooking is essential because otherwise the heart of the agave is very poisonous.  Flower stalks were also eaten but could not be stored.

3. The leaves contain saponins and are rich in sap in the winter and spring. They can be roasted. You chew them then spit out the fiber.  The leaves can also be boiled and the juice used as a soup but test a little first. The leaves and juice can be too bitter to eat. There are over 200 agave species so make sure you have an edible one. Spine arrangement, length and shape help tell the species apart. The leaves of most make good cordage.

Mm.  Not sure I'll bother!  There's a lot that can go wrong and the spitting out bit could be messy!