Wednesday 11 June 2008

Betel Nuts (Buah Pinang)



These fruits are called betel nuts. The red ones are the ripe ones while the green ones are still unripe. Betel nuts are usually chewed with tobacco and daun sireh. Regular chewing of betel nuts will led to red-stained teeth & gum. Nowadays, I don't see many people chew betel nuts anymore.

Do you chew betel nuts? Or have you tried it before?

9 comments:

Kris McCracken said...

I’m allergic to all sorts of nuts (some of which are not even nuts!): peanuts; almonds; cashews; pine nuts. I wonder if I could eat these? What do they taste like?

Do people not eat them because of the stains or just changes in fashion/taste?

ptowngirl said...

Very interesting! They looked like grapes to me; I would have never guessed they were nuts! Do they have like a licorice type of flavor?

ptowngirl
HamptonRoadsDailyPhoto.com

Pat said...

Your past two photos are lovely. For some reason the Daisy didn't want to come up on my screen yesterday, so I'm complimenting you now. I think betel nuts are similar to those chewed in some African countries.

chrome3d said...

Never heard of these nuts. They look good and have funny looking branches too.

Pat said...

Cola nuts! That's what they chew at least in Cameroon! I finally remembered. Maybe they're the same.

I'll be on vacation for two weeks starting tomorrow, so won't be able to visit. (I've used scheduled posting on my blog; hope it works.)

alicesg said...

Very interesting photo. Never knew that betelnuts fruits are like these.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. I never came across one of these before/I did know what were they. Thanks for sharing!

Nice photo.

Alexander
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex

Anonymous said...

though i've had betel nuts ... but never seen the fruit, thanks for the detail.

Did i mention that your photos across the weblog are fantastic :)

J.C. said...

Thanks all for the comments posted. It feels good to be back after 2 weeks and see so many comments here! You all make my day!
I have been so weak for the past one week. It's good to be back to blogging again!

My friend tried betel nut while in Taipei and he said it made him dizzy for a moment. It will cause you to be high. Similar to chewing tobacco, that's his feedback.

"Use your first smile, your first form of generosity, of love, of kindness—use it at home; start at home. And if there is something left over—if … your plate is just full of abundance of patience and goodness and smiles and joy, then by all means, you should go … and offer that to others. But we must begin at home." by Dr Robin Smith