You bought your first gourd mate, you cured it and when you went to use it you realized your gourd mate turned black inside a bit uneven. Did the mate get fungus? The first thing you thought was “I screwed it up”. Relax, we are going to tell you what to do.
If your mate at this moment looks like we show you in the photo, this article is what you are looking for.
Gourd mate turned black
First of all you have to know that if yourmate gourd turned black inside it is something completely normal. When you buy your mate you see it very neat and clean inside but little by little and with the uses its color will change. It’s nothing serious. At first you will see that it stains in some places and little by little all its interior will unify and take on the same color.
We are going to tell you some things that can help you if you are worried that it will get darker. But first of all, if you are one of those anxious that before curing the mate wants to know everything that can happen, we invite you to read our article on how to cure your mate, get rid of all your doubts and come back.
Let’s go to the point.
One of the first things you have to know is that after you use your mate you cannot let it spend many days in humid places. The reason is because it can generate bad odors and in the worst case, fungus. Later we are going to tell you two ways to take care of your gourd mate so that it does not catch fungus.
Secondly, our advice is that in the curing process of your mate, clean it every 24 hours. Once the first 24 hours have passed with the used yerba do the following. Throw this yerba, and clean the entire interior of the mate with hot water. Then with a spoon scrape inside in the green and black areas. Always very careful and not sharp. Then you are going to rinse with hot water again, add more used yerba and wait another 24 hours. You can repeat this process about three times.
Anyway, take into account that no matter how much you clean it perfectly, its color will change and that is totally normal. There won´t be any issue as long as you do not see any fungus.
How do I take care of my gourd mate so that it doesn’t catch fungus?
We give you two options:
Option 1: After using the mate, remove the yerba, rinse it with water and let it dry face up with a napkin. If you leave it upside down, it can cause moisture and ruin it.
Option 2: After using it, remove most of the yerba but without rinsing leaving a few small remnants of yerba inside to dry on their own when placing the mate face up, this helps absorb moisture.
You will notice that over time your mate will be sealed, this means that it no longer has an uneven color but has become unified, as you can see in the photo.
This stage is reached only with the correct use and care. One of the main advantages of the gourd mate or creole mate is that it takes on a particular, unique taste, given by the gourd, thanks to its porosity, absorbs the flavor of the yerba over time and enhances this taste. without letting it become contaminated with other flavors.
Now that you know all this, the only thing left to do is put it into action and once it is ready, go and prepare the best mate of your life.
If you still don’t know how to do it, we recommend that you read our article on how to prepare mate correctly, there are some things you need to know.
Don’t worry, this is part of the process to be a true matero expert.
¿What else you would like to know about the mate? ¿How to distinguish fungus in your mate? o ¿How to know when is the right moment to change my mate?