The calabash - a cultivated plant

The calabash, round, curved and hollow, is also known as the bottle gourd. It is one of the oldest cultivated plants and thrives primarily in tropical and subtropical areas.

Where the calabash comes from and what makes it so special

The oldest seed finds are from South America and Thailand from around 6000 to 12000 BC. known. Because of its practical shape, the calabash is used to transport and consume drinks. The fruit grows hanging on the tree and has a spherical body with a long, narrow neck.

The diversity of the fruits is amazing, because they range in size from just five centimeters to three meters. The colors also vary from light yellow to deep dark green, from orange to brown.

The bottle-like shape of the calabash is natural, so it can vary from fruit to fruit.

The drying of the calabash

The ripe, harvested calabash is best dried intact in a warm place. If you cut the calabash beforehand, the flesh may rot. The drying process makes the pulp woody and impermeable to water, so that liquid can also be stored in the calabash after it has dried completely.

The drying process of the gourds varies from several weeks to months, depending on their size and ambient temperature. You know that the calabash is dry when the seeds inside rattle loudly and clearly when you shake them. After drying, the calabash can be processed with a small saw.

THE CALBASSE AND GUYA

This is how completely natural vases, drinking containers and drinking bottles are created. In South America, tea is traditionally drunk from a calabash. The shapes vary from long-necked bottles to round, even bowls.

While mate tea is drunk from a bottle-shaped calabash bottle with a bombilla, a kind of drinking straw, guayusa is traditionally drunk from calabash bowls. First Guayusa is brewed in a large pot, the brew is then skimmed into the bowls and drunk.

To bring the South American flair home while drinking GUYA tea, you can purchase calabash bowls on our website. These come from the same community in Ecuador as our organic GUYA tea. The bowls were customized with hand carvings especially for GUYA.

You can find our organic GUYA in your area , on Amazon or here in the online store .

Sources:

https://www.hausgarten.net/garten-im-herbst/kuerbis/ Flaschenkuerbis-BAU.html

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabash