My Spanish vocabulary is expanding.
I now proclaim: Adoro yerba mate.
Translation: I love yerba mate.
I'm still on something of a yerba mate high, having sipped this potent, caffeine-laced herbal tea almost every day during my recent travels in South America. In Argentina and Uruguay, people sit on park benches or walk the city streets with thermoses of yerba mate and the distinctive gourd cup and silver straw it is sipped through.
The beverage is prized not just for its wonderful taste, but because people in parts of South America believe it has rejuvenating, nutritional and energizing effects.
There are lots of little shops and kiosks selling the traditional silver-trimmed mate (cup). At every place, I was offered a sip of some freshly brewed -- which I politely declined because of my North American germ phobia. The custom in South America is to pass around the yerba mate in a common cup. It is considered rude to even wipe the straw before you put your lips to it.
Much to my regret, I didn't purchase a cup and straw, thinking that yerba mate was made from fresh herbs that would be hard to find in New Jersey.
Returning home, I learned that it is made from dried leaves and that loose leaves and teabags can be found in North Jersey Hispanic markets and on the Internet. Those who prefer it cold can find it bottled. It is also sold in pill form, as a weight-loss aid -- which seems to be a terrible thing to do to a wonderful-tasting drink.
I first sampled yerba mate a few days before I left for Buenos Aires at Cucharamama, a Hoboken restaurant that features South American cooking. Always curious, I couldn't resist a beverage described as something to be sipped through a silver straw.
The straw is called a bombilla, which traditionally is silver but may be stainless steel. It has a distinctive shape at one end -- a bulge that looks like a little microphone and contains a strainer to filter the crushed, loose leaves.
Most people don't like the taste at first. The prevailing wisdom is that you must drink three cups before you acquire a taste for it. I recommend not drinking those cups one after the other or you'll feel as if you put your finger in a light socket.
For me, it took just one sip, and I swooned.
It's deeply herbal -- reminiscent of mint but with nut-like and woody overtones. It fills your mouth with flavor and has a long finish, so sipped slowly it provides great taste long after one swallow.
Here are directions on how to prepare it from miyer bamate.com:
1. Place dried, minced yerba mate leaves -- enough to fill the cup or gourd ? to ? full, depending on your preference. Moisten with cool water; let that sit for a minute or so.
2. Pour in hot -- not boiling -- water until it nearly fills the cup. Don't worry if some of the leaves remain dry, floating on top. They will eventually absorb water in subsequent infusions. The hotter the water, the stronger the brew.
3. Let it stand a few seconds and replenish with hot water when the first water is absorbed.
4. When the water is no longer being absorbed, insert the bombilla into the cup or gourd.
5. Sip.
Food Editor Patricia Mack can be reached at The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack, NJ 07601; by voice mail, (201) 646-4351; by fax (201) 457-2511; or by email, mack@northjersey.com. |
