Betel Nut (Areca Palm) Review - Weird Fruit Explorer Ep. 100 

5 years later jared is in the gutter in queens somewhere chewing betels nuts begging for a fix.

"I dont do drugs" *Swallows sword*

Dude I'm glad you stepped out of your comfort zone and decided to do this it's great

The white stuff is slaked lime, Calcium Hydroxide. One of my school science teachers while teaching about acid base reactions mentioned that the lime reacts with the combined juices of the betel leaf and areca nut (which are both apparently somewhat acidic) to make it pH neutral reducing corrosion of teeth. There is a risk of too much lime, which eats into soft tissue very effectively; this is mitigated by adding Catechu (kattha) which apparently acts as a pH buffer by reacting with lime only at a neutral pH. Never been in a position to verify all this, but always found it quite interesting to think about the evolution of this combination of these widely disparate components over generations to try and reduce the health impact of what is essentially a narcotic. Fair disclaimer; I enjoy a paan now and then, particularly after a heavy meal.

So how are your octopus wounds doing? None? Hey, it works!

when you held up that bag I thought it was dehydrated crickets

You put the lime and the nut and you chew it all up. And said, "doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take?'" I said, "doctor, to relieve this belly ache?"

I've been searching the planet for the cure to my octopus wounds. Alas, my search is over! Thank you Betel Nut. Edit : Nice homage to Stanley Kubrick.

"i don't take drugs"

They have a Betel Nut epidemic in Papua New Guinea, it is actually one of the most addictive substances consumed regularly and it isn't only consumed by men. Where it is regularly consumed women have it equally as much, it also is very harmful and causes oral cancer with a LOT of people in PNG.

In Jambi, Indonesia, we even have a traditional dance named after this, called 'tarian si kapur sirih'. It is a part of our culture. I have seen some elders still practice this, but never seen teenagers chewing these betelnut. When I was a kid, I was told that chewing these betel nuts and sirih leaves should clean your teeth (ironically). I don't really know that these have some stimulating effects. Good to know. I guess that's why some people do it almost everyday.

Probably your finest video. I love all the details you included and the adventure you went on. Thank you for stepping outside your comfort zone for us.

I've heard it said (somewhere, ages ago, so I'm paraphrasing), that travel is the antidote for ignorance. I agree and wish I could do it more. Thanks for taking us on your adventures and props for stepping out of your comfort zone. P.s. Wasn't expecting the kama sutra to be as relevant in fruit hunting as your day job.

In Ferdinand Magellan first travel around the world (He was killed pretty near these islands btw) he says people there were constantly chewing this thing. He made the trip in 1519.

You're a brave man. I had these palms around my house. I'm replacing these palms with citrus and other fruit trees. Areca palms destroys sprinkler systems. The roots strangle other trees and plants several feet away. These trees are very fruitful.

had this a couple of times. it was wrapped in leaves with tobacco also that were soaked in sweet cinnamon. effect was hard to explain ... after chewing for awhile i found it to be quite bitter. my mouth went numb. and i guess i felt like id just smoke a cigar and had a couple of beers and had more energy.. fyi having it once or twice will not stain your teeth.

I tried it once. It was pretty nice but overly flavourful. I didn't feel much of the effects but I drink coffee and I was a smoker at the time. I think the one I had had herbs and such in it as well. I don't know if I'd have it again but it was certainly an experience and I like trying new things.

The calcium carbonate acts as a catalyst for the chemical reactions between the stuff in the leaf, the fruit, and your spit. The alkaloid allows the fun chemicals to become salted, which allows them to be more easily absorbed into your bloodstream and brain. I love drug chemistry.

VERY WELL RESEARCHED. There is a lot of misinformation about areca but you did your homework! nice work, you earned a sub

Whatever you do, don't say Betelnut three times in a row ;)

Can I take a moment to appreciate "treating your octopus wound... yeah, that's going to come in handy." Best line of the year

i learn so much today!! thank you for the video i love it!! i love how you separate every subject by chapter its really easy to follow and instructive:)

How in the world did I miss this video despite being a subscriber for so long? Anyhow, first time drug use (other than coffee) with episode 100; first drink of alcohol with episode 400. I hope that's as far as it goes.

dude u have done a very good job ..... u have researched thoroughly and presented in an ideal way.....

Paan is super carcinogenic. I wouldn't compare it to coffee, it's more like tobacco in qualitative effects. The effects come from a myriad of chemical constituents in areca nut like arecoline and guavicine, most of which all have stimulant properties. Eugenol plays a pretty small role. I would think that the piper plant is used because it increases absorption more than anything. There are definitely intoxicating piper species, most notably Piper Methysticum, or Kava Kava. What's funny is that it's a sedative. It's actually one of my favorite plants, but unfortunately very difficult to cultivate outside its native habitat. Anyways, you probably won't die from doing it once or twice (probably), so you'll be fine. I used to dip the stuff and spit onto concrete. It would dye anything a rust-orange color, it was gnarly.

I love this episode and it's loaded with great info, however it's a bit old and I think you revisiting the betel nut with your more recent video style would be awesome!

Super interesting!!! I finally found out what all those reddish spit stains were about when I travelled around India 23 years ago...so THANK YOU for this great cultural lesson enjoyed it very much!!! You've got yourselves a new subscriber

In india the whole leaf and nut combo is called paan. A rose jam called gulkand is added for sweetness along with some other spices. It actually tastes pretty good and its also pretty cheap

In college I had some friends who were Sikhs from the Punjab, and because they weren't allowed to smoke or drink, they instead chewed betel nuts and showed me how. I tried all sorts of flavor combos for "pan masala" where you wrap it a betel leaf, as well as from the can and with different seasonings like chili and lime juice with the lime powder. It's basically like drinking three or four Red Bulls with one mouthful and gives horrible teeth even if you brush. But still, I'm now stuck on it. (P.S, the opening had me worried this was your last video released posthumously due to a New Guinea trip gone horribly wrong... ;) )

"Thats gonna come in handy" octopus wounds. Ah yes

Brush your teeth BEFORE consuming things that stain your teeth. Rinse thoroughly with water only after. Plaque increases the chance of stains so brush before coffee or tea. Brushing immediately after ph changes (especially sour or sugary foods) can wear down your enamel.

betel nut, the gateway fruit....... come on, you gotta do a kratom review now. 1 tsp. 8 oz warm water, 2 tbsp Sugar in the raw or honey. Its just a leaf. its a tea. this video was hilarious, and well done. Kratom is popular in Indonesia.

In a country where the habit of chewing this is so common, they didn't explain why they chewed all three together, so I was curious, but thanks to you, the question was solved. thank you.

Hah! You just had to get in a dig against old Wilford Brimley and his ‘beetis.

In India and Pakistan they put a lot more in the leaf which makes it quite nice such as shredded coconut, sweet syrup, menthol, tiny multicoloured sugar coated fennel seeds, shredded dried betel nut... If you ever chance upon somewhere that sells it like that such as Asian stores you may just like it! :P I never knew where this dry woody thing my ethnicity eats came from and after 21 years I decided to google it - had no idea of its stimulant effects or what it looked like raw! Very fascinating to read on it, the dry woody version of it is quite addictive once you get used to constantly chewing and breaking down the texture in your mouth, I do wonder if the dry version still carries the harmful effects mentioned though!

Most informative video about betel nut out there! Thanks for the vid!

'Helping your octopus wound is probably gonna be outweighed by getting mouth cancer' You don't know my life.

@8:58 Oh, man, I got a good belly laugh from the photo of Wilford Brimley for diabetes... or should I say, "diabeetus"? :)

As I watched this video I'm eating Pan Masala....soo good. It has betel nut and various spices that create a synergy that stimulates and relaxes at the same time. Next to coca leaf chewing it rates about the same.

vasoconstrictor is the effect of consuming a stimulant. the molecule and the mechanism of these stimulants are different.

I like the clean lifestyle, man, I personally eat meat, but having had my own troubles with nicotine and coming from two families with history of alcohol abuse, I dig it. Drugs aren't worth it.

When you recognise the theme music from Cannibal Holocaust ⊙.☉

Tambul paan is another type that is done in north east India. Here the nut is kept buried till the outer shell has started decomposing. Then it is washed and cut and is accompanied with paan leaf, calcium carbonate, and a dab of tobacco leaf.

I live in a small central Thailand village and chewing betel nut/leaf combo seems to be popular with a group of older women here. They have their little box with everything they need, including a small mortar and pestle for crushing and grinding it. All the stuff they need is sold in "kits" in every Thai market I've been to. I haven't seen any men do it but it seems like a social thing the old women like to do.

My dad loves these, hes been eating it for all eternity 🤣

You should edit more about the adventures you go on to get the fruit as well!

Have you done psilocybin mushrooms? That would have been a lot more cultural and way safer than the betel. Psilocybin is one of the safest out there

old vid but thought i'd mention: vasoconstriction isn't necessarily part of the main effect profile of stimulant drugs. for a lot of drugs, they're considered one of the less desirable components. the left-facing (levo) isomer of amphetamine has stronger vasoconstrictive properties and thus stronger "peripheral nervous system stimulation", such as increased heart rate and numbing of extremities. this is why adderall (a 50/50 combo of left and right facing isomers) tends to be more jittery than dexedrine (just the right facing combo). betelnut's main effects come from a very different pathway than cocaine or meth (which act on dopamine), instead acting mostly on acetylcholine receptors, much like nicotine (although where nicotine acts on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, arecoline acts on the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors)

Tried betel nut in the form of Gutka. Little packs of betel chunks in spiced tobacco powder. Never puked so hard in my life. No tolerance to nicotine at the time.

This version of paan (yes the whole package is called a pan in India) tastes awful and is only taken for its addictive value. The other version called mitha paan is made with a sweeter type of beetle leaf (still burns but tastes sweet too) and way less beetle nut and no lime. mitha paan is also commonly served with the masala you mentioned, and those are also sweet. they also add honey to it. I love eating sweet paan or mitha paan. they serve it in wedding ceremonies to guests. and I swallow the pan lol.

Betel is also pretty common in Cambodia and is _everywhere_ in Myanmar (dried, chopped nut with liquid lime).

That intro confused me for a while because I didn't see the cut and I thought it was one of those seemless transitions, awesome either way!

That took a turn i wasn't expecting!

HA HA HA HA! Thanks for taking us through this journey. Always wondered what it was all about. Now I don't have to wonder any more. :)

To be honest, you would have to be crazy to bother with Areca nut in the first place. I have tried it and to me, it tasted like crap. It left my mouth feeling like a cockie's cage. It can become highly addictive and is responsible for squamous cell carcinomas in the mouth and oesophagus, as well as stomach ulcers. In PNG, it is eaten with homemade lime powder and a pepper plant. They carry a pot lime with the hydrated lime (kambang), and the pepper plant is called Daka. The lime is made from dried and cooked coral. The nut is similar to a very small coconut with husks on the outside and a shell less round nut on the inside. The husks are often used to clean the teeth but generally are discarded. Once the seed is chewed into a wad, a piece of pepper plant is chewed of after it is dipped into the kambang (lime powder) The lime and pepper has the affect of turning the mix into kind of porridge. Gradually more lime and pepper is added until the desired consistency is reached. The mix, because of the lime, turns red along with the lips, teeth and mouth. The mix acts as a mild stimulant which help locals suppress their hunger, reduce stress and heighten their senses. Consumption by hundreds of millions of people worldwide - mainly with southern and eastern Asian origins - has been described as a "neglected global public health emergency". "Systemic effects of areca nut Areca nut affects almost all organs of the human body, including the brain, heart, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and reproductive organs. It causes or aggravates pre-existing conditions such as neuronal injury, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, hepatotoxicity, asthma, central obesity, type II diabetes, hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome, etc. Areca nut affects the endocrine system, leading to hypothyroidism, prostate hyperplasia and infertility. It affects the immune system leading to suppression of T-cell activity and decreased release of cytokines. It has harmful effects on the fetus when used during pregnancy."

The palm in taiwan is literally everywhere,and it's common that people spit the waste on ground,which isn't really pleasant to see it.

I knew you were getting stimulated even as you were speaking, but man, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen. You're agile, aren't you!!!

How about i NEVER EVER in my entire life try this out, sound good?! This video was the reason why i subbed to this channel, and I don’t regret that decision!!

The lime is also a catalyst ingredient in recipes that yield DMT, such as cooking Anadenanthera peregrina (yopo) seeds.

"Its not that addictiv, like having a cigarret?" Nikotin is one of the most addictiv things out there

20:00 congratulations.. youve made your first excuse for yourself.. you are now a drug addict.. welcome to the club.

Beautiful mountains!

ohhh those old weird explorer intros, truly peaceful

When I worked at the airport with people from Micronesia they got me hooked on this stuff, we would take the nut and cut it in half, pull out the pit and pack the hole with a crushed cigarette (folded over and over), then we would take the limestone and wipe some across the top, wrap it in the leaf, and chew it on the side molars of your mouth in a way that caused the fibers of the betel nut to envelop around the cigarette similar to a coconut husk. It was one hell of a morning pick-me-up! Felt like I had a good strong cup of coffee and smoked my first cigarette of the day every time!

You put the lime in the betel nut and wrap it all up.

Mom: Why don’t you go play with the neighbor’s kid? The neighbors kid: 18:17

Guys from India or Malaysia at my work chew it. They do the dried version with chewing tobacco. I've found the empty packets from night shift doing it. One time, I found a packet and something in it had attracted bugs which died in the packet. I got beetles in my betel nuts! 🤣👍

Some people mix it with Calcium Oxide powder Which is bad for health.

You add a small amount of tobacco leaf for a little zing. Perfect little pick me up for when you have to plow the field early morning and you have no coffee.

It's funny, I recalled this video the other day when watching the toothache plant video, he says here he's never had alcohol and in another video he refused to eat or drink something because it had alcohol but in the toothache video he straight up guys some fun and shoves a bunch of the plant in it for awhile before taking a sip. Though he say he considers it like vanilla extract and thats how he would use it. Which to be fair is how it's done, in culinary school we did something similar where we prepared vanilla beans, a neutral spirit(if I remember right it was just sugar, water, yeast and then distilled) and then some groups would put other spices, while others would put in wood chips from wine/whiskey barrels and then they would be put in these weird aging jars and put away. Meanwhile we would then take out the ones made 2 or 3 years ago and open them up to use for ourselves, which I thought was pretty neat.. As long as they did everything right and it didn't go bad. We did similar things for kimchi, various aged/cured meats and cheeses, though it was a bit of a shame we never got to try our own in the end.

Haha! I like that short cameo of Wilford dye-uh-beat-is Brimley

I know it's an old video but betel consumption it's documented in Pigaffeta book about the first circumnavigation around the world performed by Magellan-El Cano expedition.

I knew you would eventually review the Betel nut!

Great video Jared. At the start it almost looks like you turned away from the cable car window and it became your room! Is your fruit hunting a sideline during your work abroad or have you ever just travelled for a vacation and done these reviews at the same time? Congratulations on your 100th episode. Look forward to more :)

I was in the army with a chamorran guy (from Saipan, in the Mariana islands. Whats up Muña?!) And he loved betelnut. He would wrap it in tobacco leaf.

I like to mix it with ciggarett n leaf it's makes me high ..

Love this episode- would you consider more medicinal fruits shows. ?

There r many different ways to eat this. When I was little I used to eat the sweetened nut, which dries but moistens your mouth at the same times. I prefer the nut alone but once in a while I wrap it in the leaf with some rose "jam" and it's really yummy. Also, ur supposed to clip off the point of the leaf. I recommend u try the sweetened nut. It's 10x better.

Teetotalers unite! Honestly though, I am not really a complete teetotal anymore, as I do enjoy the occasional whiskey over ice cream. Still, I tend to average less than five drinks in a year. From my opinion- take pride in it. Many will try to break you down over it, but screw em. I had to cut out coffee ages ago, body just doesn't do well with it anymore and I end up glued to the toilet for a few hours. Now tea and video games are my only vices.

Woulds clicked way faster uf your face was on the video as well. Your the best plant reviewer in the world

Just got attacked by an octopus. I'm so glad to have stumbled upon this information

Friend went from completely drug free to addicted to betel in thr course of one video.

Do San Pedro next. Close enough to a fruit.

In the Caribbean, my grandma was a practicing Hindu and used Paan leaves in ceremonies, never knew that it was a drug/ sexual symbol 🤣. She would have been horrified to know this. Other Hindus would come, put a coin under the tree and pick when they need for their ceremonies. I'm sharing this so my family can see this 🤦. 😂

Arecanut with betel leaves have clean track records, no cancer cases are proved But people use one more ingredient that's tobacco Those who use tobacco splits the saliva coming from mouth while chewing and those who don't use tobacco swallows gradually with the chewing process. Our ancestors used to chew it at least 6 times a day, I saw my grandmother chewing it till her 90 + years, my father is 60 years now he still chew it and I do it often.

My Mom said , why would anyone want to take LSD. I said you'd have to have the curiosity of someone with a lobotomy to not want to take a little tablet that is going to take you down the rabbit hole into wonderland.

Visit the Micronesia Islands. Guam. Northern Marianas Islands, Federates States of Micronesia, Palau

The Melanesian Islanders also chew this .

I was served pahn in an Indian restaurant in London. I recall they told me not to chew it but to suck on the leaf pouch in the side of my mouth. I got a buzz out of it like a couple of expressos, but nothing to get excited about.

Are you anti mind altering substance for a religious or spiritual reason? Or is it something thats a health choice etc?

Its popular in the middle of streets outside of some restaurants here in Brooklyn on Church ave where many Bangladeshi people reside. They call it "Sweet Paan". One stand will wrap in the the leaf with broken cardamom seeds, fennel seeds, sweet syrup and some other light sweet spices, while the other stand nearby does the same thing but adds shredded tobacco inside! I love the one with tobacco especially after coming out of the restaurant belly full of tasty Indian/Bengali food. And the best part is they're only a dollar each. I take a bunch home to go which they wrap in a kind of triangular shape in alluminum foil. Can't go wrong with $1 each. Best when theres no time for coffee and a smoke waiting for the bus or train on the way to work.

Areca nut was the tastiest of the obscure drugs I’ve tried. I do not recommend regular use, but it was really smoky and woody. I also liked coca which is an acquired taste.

OMG is this where the idea for Beetle Snuff comes from in Star Trek? In DS9 the Ferengi sniff it to get a pick me up and it’s widely accepted among that culture.

Also, just because something causes vasoconstriction doesn't mean it is a stimulant. Non stimulant drugs can cause your blood vessels to contract as well.

Another point - the stimulation of betel does not leave one bouncing. In fact it leaves one content to lay in a hammock or sit in a rocking chair and do absolutely nothing. The effect is imo distantly related to the effect narcotics can have.

Two thumbs up ... Great video... So happy you enjoy what your doing & very thankful for you for sharing this experience with us

I tried it once in Guam, I used the fresh nut without the leaf and found that after chewing there was a heat sensation at the back of my head. It was like there was a heater on the back of my neck, very interesting, very good experience.

I tried it in Taiwan, minus the “lime”. It didn’t do anything to me. The locals are addicted to it and chew on it from morning to night. They are completely stoned by mid afternoon and the persona of some completely change, often for the worse.

I found betel nut right here, dead center of the USA in Kansas City. Fresh and dry. with the leaf and lime.

I don't take drugs, but I'm up on the lingo. "Bump of coke"??