Yerba Mate - Better than Coffee or Green Tea?

Down Argentine Way, the drink of choice isn't coffee or tea - it's yerba mate.

Made from steeping dried leaves of the yerba mate plant, it's extremely popular in South America and looks to be gaining ground in the U.S. - popping up in lots of mainstream publications, including USA Today and Epicurean. In fact, Bombilla & Gourd's Yerba Mate Tea just won the 2007 Best Non-Carbonated Beverage award over at BevNet.com, the beverage industry's trade publication website.

As the national drink of Argentina and Uruguay, mate is brewed much stronger and drunk much more often during the day than in other parts of the world. It's also accompanied by a social component: from Brazil to Argentina to Lebanon and Syria, the drink is served as loose leaves in hot water, in a special gourd-shaped container (shown above) and drank through a metal straw ("bombilla") whose tip includes a strainer. Yes, people share the same metal straw, passing the container from person to person in Latin America's answer to the coffee break.

There's a worldwide fanbase for yerba mate. Folk herald yerba mate as a superior caffiene source than coffee (there's not a gnarly effect on the stomach) as well as aiding in weight loss and helping with all sorts of health maladies.

Weight loss catch your eye? Check out this article in Women's World where a woman claimed to have lost 100 pounds just by incorporating mate into her daily life.

Yerba mate is a distinctly different plant, and it's been studied for its medicinal properties. Studies have found it to be filled with good things like B vitamins, antioxidants (more than red wine or green tea), and a mood enhancer similar to that found in chocolate. Some are saying it's a possible cancer-fighter.

However, other studies have warned that it may have a cancerous effect among heavy drinkers - those drinking significants amount of the drink over long periods of time.

Me? I got a box of Yerba Mate tea bags for Christmas. Taste was just fine (I sweetened it with Stevia) and I had a cup each morning for a week. I liked it, I had lots of energy and no yucky-stomach feeling. Better than coffee, for sure.

I'll keep it in stock, but I'll still have my tea as well. Tea is just too fun to abandon: choosing between the pretty packages, deciding between milk or lemon, picking the mug. Maybe it's a girl thing.

Personal Post 8: Watching Food Prices in 2008

During the first week of this month, I went to the grocery store with a list and a plan and a $100 bill. I thought I'd leave there with a lot more than $3.78 in my pocket.

So, I've decided to track food prices this year, and share my findings with you. Here are ten items from that January 2008 grocery receipt and their corresponding prices:

1. Dole Yellow Bananas .39/lb
2. Small Limes - 5/$1.00
3. Store Brand Cage Free Brown Eggs - 1 Dozen $1.99
4. Silk Unsweetened SoyMilk 1/2 Gallon - $2.79
5. Store Brand 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup - $0.75
6. Store Brand Diced Tomatoes Canned 15 oz. - $.059
7. Regular Ground Beef Chuck 70/30 16 oz. - 2.08
8. Suave Invisible Solid Powder Deodorant - $1.48
9. Store Brand Frozen Green Sweet Peas 16 oz. - $0.92
10. Barilla Plus MultiGrain Rotini Pasta 16 oz. box - $1.65.

Let's see what happens.

UPDATE

FYI:  I have compared this list with grocery prices in March 2011 and August 2017.  Nothing stays the same, but some things got higher in 2011 than they were in 2017.

New Year's Tradition: Black Eyed Peas Texas Style

Perhaps it's just a Southern tradition, maybe it's an American one - heck, maybe it comes from the back corners of Poland.

All I know is that here in Texas, every year, we eat our Black Eyed Peas for good luck. And, it doesn't matter if you don't like Black Eyed Peas - you gotta do it. Force one or two down your gullet with a glass of water if you must. Just eat those good luck charms, dangnabit.

A few years ago I started foregoing the standard fare of a pot of the peas cooked with salt pork or bits of ham or bacon, served together with cornbread, for something new. These days, it's become so popular that I give away jars of this stuff as gifts - and so, Dear Reader, as my Happy 2008 to You, here is my recipe for Texas Caviar:

2 cans black-eyed peas, drained
1 sweet onion, chopped fine
1 clove fresh garlic, chopped fine
1 t black pepper
salt to taste
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine (leaves not stems)
1 serano chili, chopped tiny (forget the seeds if you're not into heat)
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped to bits a little larger than the peas (I choose these tomatoes because I think they are less watery)
juice of one fresh lemon (lime's okay too)
1 cup of Italian dressing if you're lazy or out of time; I like Balsamic vinegar too much for this tho, and I'll play around with olive oil and BV and make my own combo to pour over this stuff.

Mix. Refrigerate overnight. You can serve this over grilled chicken breasts, or as a dip. I usually choose dip - and those Fritos Scoops seem to go faster than other options with this stuff.

One more thing: some folk add corn, or bell peppers, or hominy, or roasted red peppers, bits of cheese, or black beans, here. I don't - but it's a free country. Just please don't call this stuff "pea salad" - LOL!!!

Happy New Year!!!!