Argentinian mate

Argentina is famous for its culture, which includes arts, history, traditions. Customs, dance, music and food; Argentina has a national dish and a national drink too.

The popular drink of Argentina

The Argentinian mate (yerba mate) is an infused drink very popular in this country and can be qualified as a national ritual; this drink is consumed at home generally. It’s made of dried leaves steeped in a gourd and it has a stimulating effect. Argentina has companies such as the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM) with the aim to promote this traditional product in other countries.

How to prepare mate

As you can see, if you want to prepare the traditional mate you won’t need of any Argentina recipes but we can give you some instructions about the things that are necessary to prepare it:

• The leaves (herb) must be green and dried from the perennial tree Ilex Paraguariensis; each region has a different method to prepare the infusion
• A hollow gourd called guampa or mate, which will be the container for the mate.
• A bombilla (metal filter-straw with a strainer at the end)
• And hot water of course.

According to investigations, yerba mate has medical powers such as mental stimulation; reduction of fatigue, reduction of stress, elimination of insomnia, immunization of the body, it has vitamin and mineral content, high level of antioxidants that influence in cancer prevention positive effects on cholesterol, and more which are included in pharmacy education.

Drink for social events

The mate is not a famous drink of Argentina only; it’s a drink for other South American countries (see mapa de America Latina) such as: Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and south of Chile. You can also find Tea-bag type infusions of mate which are produced in Argentina and Uruguay.

The mate is drunk in social events such as family meetings or with friends, in which one person has the responsibility of serve the infusion, you can find also a person (cebador) in charge of the tasting of the mate to ensure that it’s free of particulate matter and it’s of good quality; when he/she concludes the tasting and everything is right the people around must form a circle and drink, it’s polite to thanks the cebador as he passes the mate.