My grandparents lived in a town in Tanjore district. During summer vacations we assembled there and enjoyed the healthy, pure and unadultered things with love. It surprised us to see my granny always active - preparing hair oil out of special ingredients, milk the cow and churn butter. One such job was making flavoured betelnuts and betel nut chips known as seeval in tamil. Kottai paakku, cardamom and nutmeg was roasted in ghee, dried under the sun and finally pounded in pestle and mortar. Children were not allowed to touch it.. But as always the restriction made us steal the flavored nut and we chewed it along the betel leaf and lime paste. Alas! We were caught red handed because of the red coloured dye which showed on our tongue due to the combination of lime paste and betel leaf.

When we were in our teens it was a different story. We were told by the cook that darker the colour of the tongue after chewing betel leaf,deeper would be the love of the spouse . So we always showed our tongue to each other and asked “is it red”? Give a paan to the Valentine and ask him to prove. Is'nt it an alkaline test instead of acid test?!

Apart from all these sentimental stuff the betel leaf has more to it.

Betel leaf is a branching vine that climbs up to 10 to 15 ft. it grows as a under story ground cover. It plays an important role in the social life and custom of the Indians.The betel leaf is distributed after meal as it helps in digestion. It belongs to the pepper family. IT IS ALSO A MOUTH FRESHENER

The varieties like bagerhati, ghanagete and kauri have immense potential in preventing cellular damage and has the ability to forage free radicals says the recent research. Chewing increases the saliva and helps fight against intestinal parasites.

It is a source of calcium, carotene and iron. Due to this even today the women after the child births are given a legiyam(ayurvedic powders mixed in jaggery syrup) placed on the betel leaf.

A recipe to heal a sore throat:

Take 5 betel leaves. Clean and remove the vein. Cut the leaves. Heat a kadai. Add a spoon of ghee. Add 9 number of peppers, turmeric powder and the betel leaves. When the pepper starts spluttering remove from fire. Add little jaggery and eat along with the ghee.

Thai salad:

In a bowl mix a spoon of tamarind paste, lime juice, pepper and soy sauce. Add shredded carrots. Then mix all the ingredients with sliced betel leaf.

Vetrilai koottu :

Sliced betel leaves

Cooked and mashed dal – 1 cup

Salt

Pepper powder – 2 spoons

Turmeric powder

Ghee

Method of preparation:

Heat a kadai. Add pepper and sliced betel leaves. When they are crisp add dal, salt and turmeric powder. Remove from fire.

It helps in decongesting the lungs. 

However chewing the paan along with tobacco or any other intoxicant is harmful.
It is the cause for oral cancer.