BETEL LEAVES, ARECANUT, LIME AND TOBACCO-HOW SAFE ARE THEY?

The Paan chewing and cigarette smoking represent distinct cultures of East and West, some thing similar to Roti and bread. One cannot miss the fact that on both cigarettes and bread there are millions of references in literature as they have been extensively studied and researched into by western scientists and there is practically nothing more to know about them. In contrast reluctance of scientists in the East to study these heritage habits has kept them in the dark with very little real time information available on them. Take the example of cigarettes which were implicated beyond a shadow of doubt in cancerous diseases and thousands of deaths have been attributed to smoking of cigarettes. But information is very scanty and unreliable when it comes to paan chewing, except some scattered reports that it can lead to some types of cancers in oral cavity and esophagus.

Betel leaves along with arecanut and slaked lime constitute the classical paan, commonly referred to as 'quid" in literature and chewing it was linked to the history of many countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam and a few other oceanic countries. Probably paan chewing started as a habit among people thousands of years ago though definitive dates are not accurately known. Addition of tobacco to paan was a much later phenomenon and many believe that it is the tobacco component that causes damage to the habitual paan chewers. Betel leaves as such are not considered very dangerous and this leaf has many social, cultural and religious association in different communities in the countries mentioned earlier.

Betel leaves chewing after applying a thin coating of slaked lime generates a reddish color on contact with saliva and it probably constituted the earliest example of women getting the effect, similar to applying lip stick on their lips! It is believed that addition of lime makes the chewed matrix in the mouth alkaline enabling entry into the blood through bilingual absorption.  In some communities this leaf is considered auspicious and forms a part of many ceremonies. In Brahmin community of India any "dhana" or "dakshina" to purohits and holy people must be accompanied by giving betel leaf along with arecanut. Betel leaf and arecanut are also offered after a feast, presumably to freshen the mouth and facilitate digestion of rich foods consumed during the occasion.

According to one report 6 leaves of the Betel vine is equivalent to 300 ml of milk in terms of its vitamin and mineral contents. The leaves, on a fresh weight basis contains about 3% proteins, 1% fat, 3% minerals, 2% dietary fiber, and 0.2% essential oil. The essential oil can be extracted and it has been claimed to be antibacterial, antiprotozoan and antifungal. Interestingly Betel leaves, consumed by about 30 million people in India alone, are claimed to have medicinal properties capable of treating a mutlitude of diseases and ailments that include boils and abscess, conjunctivitis, constipation, head ache, hysteria, itches, mastitis, ring worms, swelling of joints, rheumatism, tooth ache, coughing, asthma etc. When paan is made by incorporating spices like cardamom, saffron, cloves, aniseed, turmeric, mustard, etc its medicinal value gets boosted several fold.

Cultivation of betel wines in India alone is estimated to be in an area of about 55000 hectares, involving about 4-5 lakh families and generating a value of the order of $ 200 million. If the present trend is any indication, consumption of betel leaves is bound to come down over the years causing some hardship to the growers of this leaf, often called the "Green Gold" of India. It is amazing that in a crop like betel leaves, there are many varieties being grown with different eating characteristics and if the direct consumption tends to go down, there must be some other options available to safeguard the interest of the growers and considering that this leaf by itself is never implicated in any adverse health episodes, its beneficial value must be exploited. Oleoresin extraction technology offers a ready route for exploiting the value of betel leaf essential oil and an agency like ICMR must take up in-depth studies on the real value of the constituents present in betel leaf.

Arecanut contains the alkaloid aricolene and there is a view that people with heart problem must not consume. Interestingly arecanut has a fat which is saturated in nature with high melting point and suggestions are made to use refined arecanut fat as a cocoa butter substitute though there are no takers so far for making chocolate with areca fat. The modern version of paan, Gutka is a combination of tobacco and arecanut with a few other ingredients and it is widely being consumed in India. Presently under the Indian food laws Gutka making and sale have been banned officially though it is still available in many parts of the country. One of the most nauseating social fall out of paan chewing is that most consumers do not swallow the masticated juice and in stead spit it indiscriminately in public places causing severe civic problems in many metropolitan areas. Many civic bodies and agencies have banned paan chewing in public like cigarette smoking.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

REVIVAL OF CAST IRON-NEW TREND IN KITCHEN UTENSILS

In India cast iron cookwares are common even to day as most of the traditional foods are prepared using them. They come in different shapes and sizes and are usually preferred for high temperature cooking like frying. It is only recently that stainless steel or more commonly known as "ever silver" caught the imagination of house wives in the country as they are more easily cleanable after use. The good news is that cast iron cookwares are staging a come back even in a country like the US where Teflon coated steel and aluminum cookwares had replaced it in early 1960s. Obviously consumers have discovered or re-invented the advantages of skillets, pots and other vessels over the modern ones. Probably late realization that use of Teflon coated cookwares does pose significant health risks might have been one of the reasons for the revival of interest in cast its iron based counterparts. 

Another reason for the increased interest in cast iron cookwares may be the quality of heat delivered during heating where better heat dissipation and retention are seen compared to the cooking vessel presently in vogue. While Teflon is widely used for creating a non-sticky surface currently, cast iron skillets and others use coconut oil, lard or grease to season them and make the surface non-sticky. It is also possible that once high temperatures are reached there is practically no hot spots in these cookwares which will ensure uniform cooking or frying. Two of the most widely used cast iron utensils in India are skillets for making dosa type of products and pans for frying of many products. 

Use of cast iron dates back to fifth century BC when this was the preferred material for making warfare weapons, agriculture and architecture. Use of this material for making cookwares started much later, probably during the middle of 19th century, when cast iron cauldrons, cooking pots and other paraphernalia appeared in the kitchen. They became widely popular during the first half of 20th century. Enamel coated cast iron products entered the scene offering a better alternative to the crude looking cast iron pots and vessels. Since manufacture of cast iron cookwares started declining in many countries due to declining interest, availability of the same is somewhat limited. Also to be noted is that depending on the type of foods cooked elemental iron or iron compounds can be leached out in significant quantities into the food though there are no adverse findings regarding the effect of such leaching. More the moisture or the acidity of the foods cooked, higher will be the leaching effect. Though iron is an essential micro nutrient critically associated with many metabolic activities in the body, especially in blood regeneration, elemental iron and inorganic iron compounds are not biologically useful, the body not being able to absorb them into the blood from the GI tract. 

Cast iron is made by melting the metal at high temperatures and pouring the molten mass into sand molds of desired shape and size. While some manufacturers subject them to polishing through the grinding process, most utensils are not polished as the surface of the latter, being extremely grainy due to the sand mold used, seasons better and uniformly providing a better barrier against rusting. Even unpolished cast iron utensils become smooth over a long period of use and there fore polishing is less frequently resorted to at the manufacturer's level. Once the cookware is cast it is seasoned for arresting the corrosion with the oil getting polymerized providing a hard layer  on the surface. If properly cared for cast iron utensils last for ever! In a country like the US cast iron skillets, griddles and ovens are reported to be becoming popular because of their better heating qualities and lower prices. In India even to day most house holds use cast iron skillets for making dosa type preparations and appams. Though considered old fashioned, cast iron definitely offers a superior option to house wives and it is a fact that not much efforts are being made in India to take up research in this area for improving the design and performance. This is an area where a national food research institution like the CFTRI or DFRL at Mysore can do much with their strong food engineering groups. 

Use of cast iron skillets for preparing dosa and other preparations requires skill and experience that differentiates old timer grandmas from modern house wives. Unless right amount of heat is applied, dosa making can make any body's life miserable with the product refusing to come out of the pan in one piece. There are local techniques like rubbing salt on the hot surface and/or applying oil and/ or water before spreading the batter uniformly. Modern day stoves fueled by LPG seem to have a tendency to heat the skillet non-uniformly but with a little bit of patience the hot skillet gets heated up uniformly with good result. Imagine the patience grandmas used to have heating the skillet on wood fired hearths where temperature control is next to impossible. Even then to day's house wives, in spite of all modern gadgetry can hardly come any where near the former when it comes to using such skillets. Using cast iron pans for deep frying or shallow frying is relatively easier though one has to be careful not to reach flash point due to high temperature rise that can cause a disaster! 

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com