Calabas is a pumpkin vessel for the drink Mate (accent on the first syllable), traditional for Latin America.
The Gaucho peoples used small pumpkins, cleaned and dried in the sun, instead of dishes. Since pumpkins are of different sizes, the gaucho adapted them for storing food, cereals and water.
The smallest pumpkins were chosen for making kalabas. Over time, Kalabases began to be made of wood, decorated with metal and carvings. And although now you can find kalabas made of glass, ceramics, wood, metal and even plastic, pumpkin kalabas is the classic and most popular vessel for Mate.
Mate is drunk with a bomizya or bombilla (Spanish version) - a special tube. At the very beginning, bobids were made from thin hollow plant trunks. Currently, they are made from metal and silver. Bombijas can be straight and curved. At the bottom of the bombijia there is a special filter, similar to a strainer, so that the leaves of the infusion do not fall into the mouth, the upper part of the tube - the mouthpiece - is often gilded or silver. Bombijies and kalabases are mostly hand-made by real craftsmen, so each is unique in its own way.
Pumpkin calabas requires more care, it needs to be cleaned from time to time in a special way so that mold does not appear on the walls. Otherwise, Mate will already be an unhealthy drink. To peel a pumpkin calabash, heat a teaspoon on a candle flame, for example, then scrape off the surface layer of the inner walls with it. With proper care, kalabas will last a long time, and the Yerba Mate infusion will give strength and delight with its unique taste.
