POWER OF PAAN

Betel leaves are not just an integral part of India's culture, but also hold many benefits. Add them to your list of healthy greens

- VIBHA VARSHNEY

THERE WAS a time when heart-shaped leaves of betel (Piper betle) were served after dinner in nearly every household. Panwaris, or paan sellers, would set up shop on street corners and offer customised beedas (quids); or people would just buy the leaves and prepare them at home with ingredients such as areca nut, slaked lime, cardamom, cloves, fennel, saffron, coconut and gulkand (a sweet preserve of rose petals). A beeda after a meal was believed to aid digestion and freshen the breath.

It was so popular that people believed knowing the "correct" way to eat paan was the epitome of cultured life. The saying "Bandar ko diya paan, lagaa roti sa chabaan" (if you give paan to a monkey, he will eat it like a roti) is used to refer to a lack of finesse in behaviour.

However, think of paan nowadays, and it is likely to conjure an image of red spit-covered walls-a mess made by tobacco chewers who use betel leaves to wrap and flavour the intoxicant. Traditionally, the leaf would be chewed and swallowed, but when used with tobacco, the saliva has to be spat out. This practice is considered to have begun around the 16th century when tobacco was introduced in the country by Portuguese invaders.

The name "betel" was also first used in the 16th century by the Portuguese, most probably derived from vetila-the Malay word for leaf. The Malayalam and Tamil names for betel leaf are also similar-sounding, vettila and vettilai, respectively. In Kannada, betel is taamboola, in Manipuri kwa and in Marathi naagavaela.