Paan : even the saada is special!

Some facts to chew upon…

What is it about the paan that gives it such a huge fan following? Well, the answer can come from a true paan lover in many many words like it is a palate cleanser and breath freshener while all that non-paan eaters care to know is that paan chewing is addictive (as adddictive as smoking and alcoholism). Besides it makes the mouth, lips, teeth, tongue and soemtimes the front of the shirt red. Those who don’t like paan just don’t like it! 

You are reading something written by a non commital person. I am okay about paans but do think the leaves should be used in recipes. I have made a paan kulfi and chocolate coated paan. I have made a chicken starter with juice of betel leaves as part of the marinade. You can get paan flavoured candies and even mithai now. Someone told me that wrapping fresh coriander and mint in fresh paan leaves keeps them fresh for longer. Come to think of it paan or betel leaf is actually a spice with medicinal properties. Evergreen with heart shaped leaves, the betel plant grows upto 10-15 feet in three months of plantation! They are productive at the height of one metre and when it is harvest time the leaves are removed along with the petiole with the right thumb. Once harvesting is commenced, it is continued almost every day or week. Lowering of the vines is important and is done once a year as the size of the leaves grows smaller as the vine creeps up. The betel plant is too tender to grow outside the tropics and it grows vastly in south and southeast Asia including our country, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Malaysia. The best of the paans called Maghai comes from the Magadha region near Patna in Bihar. In Mumbai you can get it at Haji Ali. 

So let’s do one simple investigation and open a paan: it will have the choona, the kattha and the supari, the loung and the elaichi (and for some tambaku or tobacco). Choona is mineral slaked lime or calcium hydroxide, kattha is catechu and supari is the areca nut (the other supari is a cue connected to murder!). The choona has an important function: it acts to keep the active ingredient in its alkaline form so that it can enter the bloodstream through sublingual (under the tongue) absorption. The supari contains something that promotes salivation (so what if it stained red!) and that itself is a stimulant. All this put together has a name (yes, even red saliva is christened!) - it is betel quid. So if you are ever so disgusted by the fact that paan eaters spit around enough to paint the town red know that what is in evidence is betel quid!

So knowing all this now, what does a paan actually do? It is a stimulant, an antiseptic, a digestive aid and a breath freshener. Ayurveda promotes paans as aphrodisiacs. The betel leaf as such is bitter but with all the stuffings it becomes edible and enjoyable only for those who acquire a taste for it. But let me tell you that long term use of paan increases the chances of mouth ulcers and gum deterioration leading to total loss of teeth in some cases. These certainly outweigh any positive effects of paan chewing. It is a common sight to have paan as after dinner mouth freshner. It does help to digest but do ensure that you brush your teeth before sleeping!

Paan is being chewed upon since thousands of years. The use of betel leaf can be traced as far back as two thousand years and it is described in the most ancient historic book of Sri Lanka, Mahavasma, written in Pali. But paan is special for Hindus. Not the one I just described but the paan leaf. The paan leaf and supari play a substantial role in important traditional Hindu ceremonies. The paan leaf is to be used with the stem intact whereas when it is being readied to be eaten with the stuffings the small stem is broken off. The reason being that sometime a variety of a small snake (more like an earthworm) is found in the stem. In South India paan and supari, haldi and kumkum is offered to married ladies during 'Varalakshmi Puja' during Navaratri and on all auspicious occasions like marriages and festivals. At a Rajasthani wedding, the groom and his baraat will eat only after money is offered and the elders of the bride’s party put a paan into the mouth of every guest. 

Paan is one ingredient on which many songs have been written - more than any other. Who can forget the “khaikey paan banaras wala”? In fact paan is related to royalty and considered a royal shauk at mushairas and mujras with the royalty attending the programmes with paandaans in tow. The tradition of eating paan was popularized by Moghal queen Noorjehan. In those days women used natural elements for makeup and cosmetics. Queen Noorjehan discovered that adding certain ingredients to the paan and eating it gives a beautiful natural red colour to the lips. So, along with its taste, paan was eaten by women as it acted as a natural lipstick.

In India, paans provide a means of livelihood. You can buy a paan every two hundred metres or nukkads and every paan wala is the focal point for local gossip! He can offer you a tambaku paan, or a saada paan or a meetha paan stuffed with grated coconut, sugar, dates, gulkand, cherries, meethi saunf and tutti frutti. You could also order a chilled/refrigerated paan! You can choose between the Kalkatta (dark green in colour), compared to that Banarasi paan (light green) and Maghai (available in both shades but smaller in size than Kalkatta and Banarasi paan). Out of all the three types, Kalkatta paan preparations sell the most. The delicately flavoured paan from Bengal known as Desi Mahoba is special too. Paan has many names in India. In Lucknowi andaaz it is paan ki gilori, while in the South you eat a beeda. 

As things evolve we can have paan from a box too in the form of paan masala. When all the masala (ingredients) of the paan are mixed together and had without the paan it is called mava/ paan masala. Big market, no doubt, but it is injurious to health. Then there are these ‘preserved’ paans that are bought by the NRIs along with the khakhras and suparis when they come home for a visit. Like I say, praan jaye par paan na chootey!