Betel leaf has a fresh, peppery taste, but it can also be bitter to varying degrees depending on the variety.

The Betel ( Piper betle ) is the leaf of a vine belonging to the Piperaceae family, which includes pepper and Kava.

Betel leaf is mostly consumed in Asia, and elsewhere in the world by some Asian emigrants, as betel quid or paan, with or without tobacco, in an addictive psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing formulation with adverse health effects.

* Main crops: Paddy, Tea, Wheat, Potato, Jute, Ground nut, Betel leaf and Oil seed.

* Betel nut images and discussion

The term Betel nut beauty ( also betel nut girl-) refers to a common sight along roadsides in Taiwan: a young woman selling betel nuts and cigarettes from a brightly lit glass enclosure while wearing revealing clothing ( Openshaw ).

The original betel nut beauties were the " Shuangdong Girls " who, in the 1960s, brought glamour to the opening of the Shuangdong Betel Nut Stand in Guoxing Township ( 國姓鄉 ), Nantou County ( Huang Wan-tran, Taipei Times, 2007 March ).

Betel nut beauties often hail from agricultural and working-class sectors of Taiwanese society.

* Betel nut

# REDIRECT Betel nut beauty

# REDIRECT Betel nut beauty

Examples of herbs where a high degree of confidence of a risk long term adverse effects can be asserted include ginseng, which is unpopular among herbalists for this reason, the endangered herb goldenseal, milk thistle, senna, against which herbalists generally advise and rarely use, aloe vera juice, buckthorn bark and berry, cascara sagrada bark, saw palmetto, valerian, kava, which is banned in the European Union, St. John's wort, Khat, Betel nut, the restricted herb Ephedra, and Guarana.

Production of Betel nut is also a sustaining business of Mon state, as the Mon pheasants preserved their heredity land onwards along with the government regulations, however, there are some many parts of uncultivated crude land in the area closed to neighbour Karen state.

Betel nut chewing is associated with an increased risk of squamous cell cancer of the head and neck.

Pre-and post-dinner Betel nut ( Paan ) chewing is very popular, along with chewing tobacco.

Main fruits: Mango, Jackfruit, Litchi, Banana, Blackberry, Papaya, Guava, Coconut and Betel nut.

Betel nuts are sold mostly by old women walking around trying to sell it, but the dried version can be found in most shops which sell tea, alcohol and cigarettes.

File: Betel container. jpg | Betel container, 19th century, Filigree work in gold on a gold ground, outlined with bands of rubies and imitation emeralds, Mandalay, Burma

Café Lou is a dive bar in Gretchen Town, New Betel.

Betel requires high land and especially fertile soil.

Betel needs constantly moist soil, but there should not be excessive moisture.

Betel is an important part of the economy in rural Bangladesh.

Betel leaves are used as a stimulant, an antiseptic and a breath-freshener.

Betel quid is also strongly carcinogenic.

Betel leaves are cultivated throughout southeast Asia.

Betel nuts are, after all, an agricultural product.

File: Betal bag, West Timor, 1921-Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde München-DSC08346. JPG | A Betel bag from West Timor, made around 1921.

Areca nuts are chewed with betel leaf for their effects as a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, although the effects vary from person to person.

Areca nut and betel leaf consumption in the world

Usually for chewing, a few slices of the nut are wrapped in a betel leaf along with lime ( not to be confused with the citrus fruit named lime ) and may include clove, cardamom, catechu ( kattha ) and / or other spices for extra flavouring.

The combination of areca nut with betel leaf is called tamul ( ত া ম ূ ল / " ত া ম ো ল ") in Assamese, kavala in Kannada, tambulam in Sanskrit, bajjai in Tulu, and paan in Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, and Urdu.

The effect of chewing betel leaf and areca nut together is relatively mild, and could be compared to drinking a cup of coffee.

The betel leaf chewed along with the nut contains eugenol, another vasoconstrictor.

Many chewers also add small pieces of tobacco leaf to the mixture, thereby adding the effect of nicotine, which causes greater addiction than the drugs contained in the nut and the betel leaf.

Chewing the mixture of areca nut and betel leaf is a tradition, custom or ritual which dates back thousands of years in much of the geographical areas from South Asia eastward to the Pacific.

It is not known how or when the areca nut and the betel leaf were first combined into one psychoactive drug.

In Vietnam, the areca nut and the betel leaf are such important symbols of love and marriage that in Vietnamese the phrase " matters of betel and areca " ( chuyện trầu cau ) is synonymous with marriage.

The folk tale explaining the origin of this Vietnamese tradition is a good illustration of the belief that the combination of areca nut and the betel leaf is ideal to the point they are practically inseparable, like an idealized married couple.

Formerly, in both India and Sri Lanka, it was a custom of the royalty to chew areca nut with betel leaf.

There was also a custom for lovers to chew areca nut and betel leaf together, because of its breath-freshening and relaxant properties.

A sexual symbolism thus became attached to the chewing of the nut and the leaf.

The areca nut represented the male principle, and the betel leaf the female principle.

Considered an auspicious ingredient in Hinduism and some schools of Buddhism, the areca nut is still used along with betel leaf in religious ceremonies, and also while honoring individuals in much of southern Asia.

Spanish mariner Álvaro de Mendaña reported observing Solomon Islanders chewing the nut and the leaf with caustic lime, and the manner in which the habit stained their mouths red.

The media has reported that regular chewers of betel leaf and areca nut have a higher risk of damaging their gums and acquiring cancer of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus and stomach.

According to traditional Ayurvedic medicine, chewing areca nut and betel leaf is a good remedy against bad breath ( halitosis ).

Scientific teams from Taiwan, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea have reported that expectant mothers who chew paan ( and / or other areca nut and betel leaf formulations ) during pregnancy significantly increase adverse outcomes for the baby.

* Kapampangan: Lúyus ( areca nut ), Samat ( betel leaf ), Ápî ( lime ), Mamâ-n ( the chewing )

* Yap ( Micronesia ): Buw ( areca nut ), waech ( lime ), gabuy ( betel leaf ), langad ( preparation ).

In India ( the largest consumer of areca nut ) and Pakistan, the preparation of nut with or without betel leaf is commonly referred to as paan.

In Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, fresh areca nut, betel leaf or ' fruit leaf ' ( daka in PNG ) and lime are sold on street corners.