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Areca catechu - Betel Nut

Page Contents 1. Names 1.1 Taxonomy 2 Methods of Use 3 The experience 4. Betel Nut Toxicity 5. Betel Nut Chemistry 6. Related Pages

1. Betel Nut names: Back to top

Family: Arecaceae

Subfamily: Arecoideae

Tribe: Areceae

Subtribe: Arecinae

Botanical Name: Areca catechu

Extensions: N/A

English Name(s): Betel Nut

Synonyms:

Related Species:

1.1 Areca catechu Taxonomy: Back to top

2. Method of use in Taiwan: Back to top

Fresh Betel Nut Chew

Ingredients

Betel nut chews always contain at least 3 ingredients: Betel nut (areca catechu), betel leaf (Piper betel) and Calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2]. The nuts should be young and succulent when used fresh. There is no need to take the seed out of the shell.

Preparation

The leaf of Piper betel is folded into a rectangular shape. Edible lime paste is applied to one side of the folded leaf. The leaf is then wrapped around a young "nut" about 2cm long. The betel nut is left intact, and never has the shell taken off. The lime acts like a glue, sticking the leaf to the nut.

Chewing Betel Nut

With the betel nut prepared like above, it is ready to be chewed. On the top of the betel nut itself, there is a what almost looks like a cap. This is where the nut connects to the tree, much like the cap on an acorn. Before sticking the betel nut in your mouth, bite the end of the nut to remove this "cap". Once the cap is removed, pop the prepared betel nut in your mouth and chew it. It should be quite juicy. Chew it up a bit like one would chew tobacco. The first few mouthfulls of saliva is best spit out. If you are chewing a lot of these nuts, its not good to swallow the first bit as it contains a lot of lime which may make your stomach upset. Many people continue to spit out the excess saliva throughout the chewing experience.

Other preparations in Taiwan.

"Twins" are 2 smaller nuts, often quite soft and juicy, wrapped in a single betel leaf. The overal size is generally a little larger than a standard nut in Taiwan.

"Hong (=red) Hway" uses the flower of the betel vine (Piper betel). A small nut is cut open and the inner nut extracted. The inner seed is crushed and mixed lime, which turns it red, and may have some oter ingredients added for flavour. This, now red, paste is put back into the split open betel nut and a piece (slice) of the betel vines flower is placed in the cut opening. This is said by some to be stronger, it is our preferred method of chewing just for the taste. This type of betel nut generally comes in a little box, which some people like to collect.

2. Method of use in Other Areas: Back to top

Palau uses betel nut in quite a similar fashion as Taiwan, though instead of breeding new types of smaller nuts, they use larger green nuts and often cut them in quarters lengthwise and wrap a leaf and lime around that. Doing this way works well, but the "nut" is quite a bit more tough/hard than with smaller nuts.

Borneo (Malaysian) use both fresh and dried nuts. All the "fresh" nuts we saw were actaully rather old, and always mature yellow nuts. THese are not chewed as is, they employ a betel cutter, much likein Inidia and similar countries. They take out the inner seed and cut it into slices. Freh nust to be cut yourself, and pre cut/dried nuts are usually for sale. Lime is sold seperately and both fresh and dried betel leaf is used.

Small cakes, of varying size, are also made. Ground up nut, leaf and lime are allmixed to geter and dried into a hard "cake" which one can break pieces from and chew.

3. The experience: Back to top

Chewing betel, aside from its rather nasty appearing red saliva, is actually quite enjoyable. The taste may not be to everyone's liking, but as far as stimulants go it feels good (for a change). Unlike other common stimulants like coffee, tea, ephedra etc, betel nut tends not to have any side affects to the user (ie headache, nausea, sweating etc). Some people, however, do react negatively to this plant, and can become temporarily ill.

4. Areca catechu Toxicity: Back to top

Many people assume it can cause cancer, and trends do point that way. Studies in Taiwan have showed increased percent of people who chew and get mouth related cancers. As of yet, we have not seen any definitive research on it. One thing to keep in mind is that some people here in Taiwan chew 1 or 2 bags everyday (1 bag has 20 nuts). Similar studies showed 80%+ chance of cancer in men who also smoked tobacco.

Some of the individual chemmicals in betel can be quite toxic, but un extracted are fairly safe. Some people report nausea after shewing, this is likely do to teh swallowwing of th juice and the lime involved. Lime can burn the skin and cause sickness, so its important to spit out the juices after a bit rather than swallow.

Although not a toxic effect, one health issue that is for sure a risk to habitual chewers, teeth. These nuts are tough and slower damage the teeth quite a bit. Long time users generally have few, none or greatly reduced teeth from constant chewing.

5. Areca catechu chemistry: Back to top

Please note: Some chemicals may not be listed and some may or may not be toxic. Do not consume plants based on this table, it only gives a general idea of *some* of the chemicals this plant contains.

8. Related Pages: Back to top

Areca catechu (Betel Nut) Plant Guide

Stimulating Plants

Areca sp. Photo Gallery (Mostly Betel Nut pictures)