Massim Betel-Nut Mortar

The term Betel Nut is a missnomer. The nut is the fruit of the areca palm (Areca catechu), known as buai in the Massim language. However, is not a true nut, but rather a fruit categorized as a berry.

The Areca “nut” is chewed with the peppery tasting betel leaf (Piper betle) and powdered slacked-lime (calcium hydroxide) as a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, although the effects vary from person to person all the way to an extreme alteration similar to that provoked by alcohol intake.

The nut is used in dried, cured (smoked), and fresh forms. When the husk of the fresh fruit is green, the nut inside is soft enough to be cut with a typical knife or with the teeth. In the ripe fruit, the husk becomes yellow or orange, and as it dries, the fruit inside hardens to a wood-like consistency. At that stage, the areca nut cannot be chewed but must be crushed in a mortar.

The areca nut contains the tannins arecatannin and gallic acid, a fixed oil gum, a little terpineol, lignin, various saline substances, and three main alkaloids : arecoline, arecaidine, and guvacine - all of which have vasoconstricting properties. The betel leaf chewed along with the nut contains eugenol, another vasoconstrictor.