Mate, also known as cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water. It is the national drink in Argentina, though Paraguay and Uruguay also happen to claim nationality over the beverage, and drinking it is a common social practice in parts of Brazil, Chile, eastern Bolivia, Lebanon and Syria.
The custom of drinking mate in some provinces of Syria and Lebanon came from Arabs who moved to South America during the early twentieth century, adopted the habit, and kept it after returning home. Syria is the biggest importer of yerba mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons a year. It is mostly the Druze community in Syria and Lebanon who maintain the culture and practice of mate.
Those who share the mate join in a kind of bond of total acceptance and friendship. Generally the server of mate will start a new infusion and then take the first drink. This is considered an act of kindness by the other people in the circle, because usually the first serving is considered the worst.
The custom of drinking mate in some provinces of Syria and Lebanon came from Arabs who moved to South America during the early twentieth century, adopted the habit, and kept it after returning home. Syria is the biggest importer of yerba mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons a year. It is mostly the Druze community in Syria and Lebanon who maintain the culture and practice of mate.
Those who share the mate join in a kind of bond of total acceptance and friendship. Generally the server of mate will start a new infusion and then take the first drink. This is considered an act of kindness by the other people in the circle, because usually the first serving is considered the worst.
I tasted mate for the first time during our last visit to our partner cooperative in the bekaa, I had the second serving which was still a bit bitter and I found it very close to strong green tea...one can of course add sugar according to his taste!
I understand that South Americans have traditionally sweetened their yerba mate with stevia...I think the only brand of yerba mate sweetened with stevia in the US is Wisdom of the Ancients...
ReplyDeletethanks for the info! I tried it with regular white sugar...
ReplyDeleteOur Syrian friends at church sweeten it with white sugar as well.
ReplyDeleteI think i speak for every decent argentinian when i say that sweetening the mate in any way (sugar, stevia, etc) is a blasphemy. The mate is drank like it is!
ReplyDelete