a popular stimulant in the Indian subcontinent and SE Asia, is the fruit of the areca palm, Areca catechu, which grows wild in Sumatra and the Philippines and is cultivated in other regions. The nut, which may also be called areca nut, contains a stimulating alkaloid (arecoline) and tannins which give it a pleasantly astringent taste.
The usual way of consuming betel nut is in the form of ‘pan’. The nuts are gathered either green or ripe, according to taste. Green nuts are shelled, boiled to mellow the flavour, and sun dried. Ripe nuts are simply dried. The nuts are then crushed with lime and catechu, a scarlet and astringent extract made by boiling chips of wood from the areca palm. The mixture is wrapped in a betel leaf, which comes from a different tree, Piper betle, to make small packages. Elaborate equipment may be used for the various stages of preparation, and the provision of betel nut for guests used to be an important element in hospitality. All this is now on the decline.
Packages of pan are chewed, not swallowed. The effect is mildly stimulating. Pan sweetens the breath but stains the saliva bright red and eventually blackens the teeth. It is thus easy to see who has been using it.
Indians believe that pan aids the digestion. No claim has been made for it as a source of nutrients.
The so-called betel leaf, mentioned above, is used as an edible wrapping for morsels of food in SE Asian countries, e.g. Thailand.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
