Wood gourds are great for drinking yerba mate, but unfortunately, they’re very sensitive and prone to cracking or breaking. Luckily, this post will show you how to prevent this from happening.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone complain about they’re wooden gourd cracking or growing mold.
And it’s usually because of one of three reasons:
- They didn’t cure it
- They cured it wrong
- Or they bought a low-quality gourd
Now before I show you how to cure a wooden gourd, you need to learn a few things first…
Don’t Buy A Low-Quality Wooden Gourd
Don’t cheap out on wooden gourds. No matter if they’re made out of carob (algarrobo) or palo santo, the truth is, no amount of curing will prevent a bad wooden gourd from breaking.
None.
If the gourd itself is weak from the start, there’s not much you can do to save it.
When buying a wooden gourd, or any gourd for that matter, you get what you pay for. This isn’t the case all the time, but it often is. So if you went cheap on your wooden gourd, don’t be surprised if it cracks quickly.
And if it does crack quickly, it can also be because…
You Cured It Wrong
Like I said earlier, wooden gourds are highly sensitive.
If you planned on curing your wooden gourd the traditional way – with hot water and yerba – you might be in for some trouble.
The water you use could be too hot and potentially crack your new gourd. It can also be at risk for mold as you’re leaving wet leaves inside of it for at least 12-24 hours.
So what’s the solution?
How To Cure A Wooden Mate Gourd
Before I explain how to cure a wooden gourd, there’s one quick thing you need to do beforehand.
You see, when you get a wooden gourd, you’ll usually find debris inside of it. But don’t worry, it’s just wood shavings from when it was being made. However, you obviously don’t want to consume this. So what you want to do is fill your wooden gourd with hot water, let it soak for a few minutes, then rinse, and let it fully dry before curing.
This should clear out whatever was inside. For safe measures, you can repeat this process as many times as you want until you’re sure it’s clean.
Now you’re ready to start curing your wooden gourd. Read the step-by-step instructions below or view our quick 3-minute video:
Step 1:
Get some natural oil.
I always like to use coconut oil because of its smell and antimicrobial, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties. I’m not sure how much this plays a role in protecting my gourd, but so far so good as my gourd never cracked or grew mold before. But you can use whatever oil you’d like such as olive oil, butter, or avocado oil for example.
Step 2:
Now, lather some oil onto your hands and start rubbing it all over the exterior of your gourd.
Make sure you coat every spot as best possible, even the bottom. What you’re doing here is sealing every pore and small opening in the gourd. This helps hold it together and prevents it from absorbing too much water, which in return, stops the wood from expanding and possibly cracking.
I don’t recommend coating the inside of your gourd with oil as it’s not necessary. Doing so will also affect the taste of your mate.
Step 3:
Once you’ve completely covered the outside of your gourd in oil, let it sit for 1-3 hours. Allow the gourd to soak in all the oil.
Step 4:
When time’s up, grab a paper towel or cloth, and wipe down the excess oil.
And that’s it!
You’re done. Your gourd is now fully cured, ready to drink, and will have a nice shine to it.
Simple isn’t it?
You want to do this every couple of weeks – or whenever you see it drying out or losing its sheen – to maintain its condition.
If, however, this sounds like too much work for you, there’s an alternative…
Buy An Aluminum-Wrapped Gourd
Aluminum-wrapped gourds don’t need to be cured. The only thing you’ll need to do is clean the debris inside.
This metal coating also helps keep the gourd stay intact so that if it were to crack, it won’t break apart and can still possibly be used. Plus, notice how the rim of the gourd is also protected. This way, if you happened to tip it over, no part of the wood will be harmed – only the outer aluminum.
If you want to save yourself time and effort from curing, click here now to grab this aluminum-wrapped palo santo gourd!
Final Words
Wooden gourds are a great gourd to have, but owning one can be tedious.
We’ve all heard horror stories of people breaking their gourd or of people having mold grow inside of it.
But let me be the first to tell that this doesn’t happen as often as you think.
And hopefully, won’t happen to you either.
You just learned everything you need to know on how to cure a wooden gourd, and how to keep it in great shape for years to come. As long as you’re careful not to drop it, tip it over, or pour in water that’s too hot (I wouldn’t do anything above 170ºF / 77ºC), you should never have a problem.
Also, remember to never cheap out on your gourd.
P.S. If you found this article helpful, you might also want to check out our store for exclusive gourds, bombillas, and more. We provide plenty of high-quality handcrafted wood gourds as well.
I recently bought a aliminium wrapped palo santo gourd. The wood spins inside of the metal wrap, is this normal?
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the comment.
Although I’ve never owned an aluminum wrapped palo santo gourd, that doesn’t seem to be normal. It should be one solid piece. You may have just gotten a faulty gourd sadly.
Hope this helps!
Darren
Hello again,
Thanks for the quick reply. I’ll try to exchange it.
Thanks again
Gary
Hey there,
So, I got this gourd where the inside is metal and the outside is wood. I never cured it bc I never thought that it needed to be cured since the inside is metal. But now it leaks from the outside bottom. The very bottom has almost like a circular tail stock imprint – I don’t know how else to describe it. But the tail doesn’t protrude, obviously or It couldn’t be put it down flat. Anyhow, any ideas on why this might be leaking? Should I have cured it? And do you have any idea how I can fix it?
Thanks
Dani
Just got a metal coated wooden gourd and was wondering if you need to cleaning with soap after each use? Or, would warm water suffice? Also, are you suppose to put it up side down to dry?
Thanks,
Denis
Hey Denis,
Thanks for the comment.
For wooden gourds, or any gourd for that matter, you want to avoid cleaning with soap as the gourd can absorb some of its flavor and scent, as it’ll taint the flavor of the yerba.
All you need is warm water. Just make sure there are absolutely no leaves in the gourd because it can cause mold to grow.
When drying, I like to place my wooden gourd on its side (ideally near sunlight since it helps prevent mold). This allows air to flow inside so it can dry.
Hope this helped!
Cheers,
Darren
Hi!
I recently bought a metal covered wood gourd.. I have heard different stories as to prep or cure the inside. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Sacha
Hi Sacha!
Thanks for your comment.
I’ve never owned a metal covered wooden gourd, but I do own regular wooden gourds. With regular ones, I follow what’s detailed in this post (cover outside of gourd in oil – not inside) and I’ve never had a gourd crack, leak, break, or grow mold.
In the case for you, I wouldn’t suggest you do anything to it.
Just make sure you don’t use water that’s too hot (I’d stay anywhere below 170ºF) and you store it in a cool and dry environment. Curing isn’t needed.
Cheers!
Darren
Hi,
I have bought a metal covered wooden gourd (palo santo) and the website that I bought it from told me explicitly to cure it with fat before I use it. Now, i did exactly that and it still has that great palo santo taste to it, and no taste of the fat. But there are some caramel coloured orbs of a material that i have yet to identify stickin to the inside of my cup, is that tree resin or residue of the butter i used to cure the cup?
Thanks in advance,
Bihoha
Hey Bihoha,
That is most likely the residue of the butter. The resin you typically see on a palo santo looks more like “staining” on the grain of the wood. The grain starts to have these dark green-blue streaks on it that can be scratched off.
Cheers,
Darren
Hello There,
I got a gourd cup , and there are many flakes inside. It’s like the (wall) inside the cup has a brown color and are falling apart some(flakes,chips, wooden leaves) and these has a different color, more like light yellow or golden ish. And the surrounding wall inside is very uneven. Only the surface outside it’s even.
Can you please give me an advice what can be or can do? The brand is Guayaki gourd small cup.
Thanks you in advance
Hi Rigers,
The flakes you’re talking about are the natural material of the gourd. It’s recommended you remove it by curing it. I wrote a guide for this that you can read here.
Cheers,
Darren
Hi,
I bought a Palo Santo gourd and I recently noticed a small crack running along the side of the gourd. I’ve cured it according to you recommendations but still this crack appeared. There is no leakage at the moment. Am I doing something wrong? Is this crack normal and will the gourd still be useable? Thanks
Is it bad to leave yerba mate leaves with whiskey soaking on inside to cure overnight? Iv read so many things that I do not know what to follow. I have a carob gourd btw.
I watched your video on curing gourds, and you soaked the gourd in mate. is this step necessary, because it wasn’t in this article. Or should I just rub the oil on the outside and not soak the gourd in yerba?
Hi Darren,
I just received my TORRE wooden mate gourd and I couldn’t find an existing answer for my question, but I’m wondering if there’s anything I should do to the gourd before oiling it like you do in your videos. Like, would you recommend brushing or rinsing it first thing after taking it out of the box? I know with the way you do it, you pour warm water into it to wash out the inside, but that’s after curing the outside only. If I want to oil the inside as well like some others have said, would you do the warm water before oiling everything then?
As for the bombilla, would you recommend washing it with soap out of the box?
Thanks,
Danyl
Hey Danyl!
Thanks for reaching out and for supporting! Regarding the mate, we usually rinse the inside before curing the outside to remove any leftover debris. We do not oil the interior despite some suggesting it. We avoid it to prevent it imparting a taste to the mate and have never had any issues.
As for the bombilla, it’s not required but you can boil it in water to clean it.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Darren
Hi Darren,
Thank you so much for the info! Oh I have one follow-up that I forgot to ask with my first question, are wooden gourds also ones that you have to wait to dry after each use before using it again?
Thanks,
Danyl