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Betel Leaf, pan (in many Indic languages, हिन्दी : पान ), or beeda (in Tamil) is a type of Indian digestive, which consists of fillings wrapped in a triangular package using leaves of the Betel pepper (Piper betle) and held together with a toothpick or a clove. Paan is chewed as a palate cleanser and a breath freshener. It is also commonly offered to guests and visitors as a sign of hospitality and eaten at cultural events. Paan filling is generally a mixture of various spices, fruits, and sugar. Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco as an ingredient to their paan fillings. Although many types of paan contain Betel nuts as a filling, many other types do not. "Paan" is sometimes mistakenly translated as "Betel nut", the seed of the tropical palm Areca catechu. Rather, supari is the term for betel nut in many Indic languages. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies betel nut as a known human carcinogen. Paan chewing is linked to high levels of oral cancer in the Indian subcontinent. Both tobacco and betel nut are themselves carcinogens but the combination of the two appears to have a synergistic or multiplicative, rather than additive, effect on cancer risk. Paan was served as must in the royal families in the past in Paan Daans. Paan is a ubiquitous sight in India, but in urban areas, chewing paan is generally considered a nuisance because some spit the paan out in public areas.
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Varieties
Paan is available in many different forms and flavours. The most commonly found include:
- Tobacco (tambaku paan): Betel leaf filled with powdered tobacco with spices.
- Betel nut (paan supari or sada paan): Betel leaf filled with a mixture consisting of a coarsely ground or chopped betel nuts and other spices, called paan masala.
- "Sweet" (meetha paan): Betel leaf with neither tobacco nor betel nuts. The filling is made up primarily of coconut, fruit preserves, and various spices. It is also often served with a maraschino cherry.
- "Trento" (olarno paan) It is said that it tastes like beetles but has a minty after taste. Eaten along with fresh potatoes it is served in most Indian Restaurants.
There are a variety of betels leaves grown in different parts of Indian and the method of preparation also differs. The delicately flavoured paan from Bengal is known as Desi Mahoba. Maghai and Jagannath are the main paans of Benaras. Paan prepared from small and fragile leaves from south India is known as Chigrlayele. The thicker black paan leaves – the ambadi and Kariyele are more popular and are chewed with tobacco.
Paan Culture
North India
Paan eating was taken to its zenith of cultural refinement in the pre-partition era in North India, mainly Lucknow, where Paan eating became an elaborate cultural custom, and was seen as a ritual of the utmost sophistication. The traditional way of paan making, storing and serving is interesting. The leaves are stored wrapped in a moist, red colored cloth called 'shaal-baaf', inside a silver(or any other metal) casket called, 'Paan Daan'. The Paan Daan has several compartments with lids built in it, each for storing a different filling or spice. To serve, a leaf is removed from the wrapping cloth, de-veined, and kattha and choona paste is generously applied on its surface. This is topped with tiny pieces of betel nuts, cardamom saffron, (un)/roasted coconut pieces/powder, cloves, tobacco etc, but as per a person's likes and requirements. The leaf is then folded in a special manner until it looks like a triangle. This form is called 'Gilouree' and is ready to be eaten. On special occasions, the gilouree is wrapped in delicate silver leaf. To serve, a silver pin is inserted to prevent the gilouree from unfolding open, and placed inside a domed casket called 'Khaas-daan'. Alternatively, the gilouree is sometimes held together by a paper or foil folded into a funnel with the gilouree's pointed end inserted inside it. Voracious paan eaters do not swallow; instead, they chew it enjoying its flavours and then spit it into a spitoon.
Myanmar
Kun-ya is the word for paan in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and has a very long tradition. Both men and women loved it and every household, right up to the 1960s, used to have a special lacquerware box for paan called kun-it which would be offered to any visitor together with cheroots to smoke and green tea to take. The leaves are kept inside the bottom of the box which looks rather like a small hat box but with a top tray for small tins, silver in well-to-do homes, of various other ingredients such as the betel nuts, slaked lime, cutch, aniseed and a nut cutter. The sweet form (acho) is popular with the young but grownups tend to prefer it with cardamom, cloves and tobacco. Spittoons therefore are still ubiquitous, and signs saying "No paan-spitting" are commonplace as it makes a messy red splodge on floors and walls; many people display betel-stained teeth from the habit. Paan stalls and kiosks used to be run mainly by people of Indian origin in towns and cities. Smokers who want to kick the habit would also use betel nut to wean themselves off tobacco. Taungoo in Lower Burma is where the best areca palms are grown indicated by the popular expression "like a betel lover taken to Taungoo". Other parts of the country contribute to the best paan according to another saying "Dada-Oo for the leaves, Ngamyagyi for the tobacco, Taungoo for the nuts, Sagaing for the slaked lime, Pyay for the cutch". Kun, hsay, lahpet (paan, tobacco and pickled tea) are deemed essential items to offer monks and elders particularly in the old days. Young maidens traditionally carry ornamental betel boxes on a stand called kundaung and gilded flowers (pandaung) in a shinbyu (novitiation) procession. Burmese history also mentions an ancient custom of a condemned enemy asking for 'a paan and a drink of water' before being executed.
References
- India Profile, Tradition of Chewing Paan
- Types of Paan
- Chander Kanta Gariyali, The Chewing of Betel leaf - Part II
