How To Correctly Cure The Mate Gourd (Yerba Mate)

How To Correctly Cure The Mate Gourd (Yerba Mate)


Welcome to the next episode of our programme! Today we get back to the subject of yerba mate. We will take a closer look at Currado.

Yerba mate may be drunk from different vessels. For convenience, we drink it from ceramic vessels but the most classic one, excluding wooden vessels, is a calabash -- that is a gourd, in simple terms. We have here a newly-purchased calabash from which one cannot drink yet. I have noticed that many people make a mistake since they buy a calabash and drink from it at once. Then they state that the drink is disgusting: "How much I hate yerba mate!" That is when the person doesn't taste yerba mate but a calabash that is not prepared yet. What we have to do with it is called 'currado', that is a series of actions a calabash has to undergo before it will be ready for use. One has to pay attention to the natural sponge that lines the fruit inside. To get rid of it, we need tealeaves from yerba mate. I have to drink it up. The calabash must be filled with the tealeaves that are used-up, and then poured with boiling water, which is contrary to common practice; that will help us soften the sponge and take it out later. We have to do it with caution not to damage the calabash. The tealeaves must be poured and then all must be left for 24 hours.

As you can see, a lot of liquid disappeared from the calabash. It is Saint Thomas that has a bit to drink and that's why we have less. We pour out water and rinse the vessel with cold water to clean it. You may also add vodka to water -- it is said to help. Now we have to get the sponge out using a spoon or yerba mate tea scoop. And we start to scrape it out. We must do it very precisely, with care and caution. Calabashes are fruits so they may differ from each other and sometimes all actions must be repeated even a few times. Naturally, a gourd transpirates while we drink mate. We don't talk about a large amount of water here but if we leave the gourd on documents, it may not end up well for them. This is how a calabash looks like when it is scraped out. We fill the vessel with mate once more, pour hot water over it and leave for 12 hours.

Matero has already soaked so we pour water over it again; we may scrape the sponge out a little more. Then we infuse yerba mate as usual, at 80°C (ca. 176°F). If you want to drink more easily, it is worth blocking the opening while introducing bombilla. We managed to do it! I encourage you to prepare a calabash in such a way -- yerba mate drunk from it has a specific flavour. See you again in the next episodes! Sklep z najlepszą herbatą: http://www.czajnikowy.pl