Since childhood, I have heard a lot of songs about betel nuts, and the most profound impression is Teresa Teng's "Picking Betel Nuts", the tune is brisk, with Teresa Teresa's round face and plump posture, which makes people feel very sloppy.
Therefore, the first time I came to Hainan, I chased after local colleagues and asked, what does a betel nut tree look like? They pointed out to me, hey, it's really pretty, Yu yu Tingting.
Betel nut is a palm family, palm trees are generally more beautiful, like the majestic and magnificent king palm, often used as a street tree in the garden landscaping, like the coconut that everyone knows, the mascot of the typical island style, and the loose tail sunflower and pu sunflower raised in everyone's office are very beautiful. The betel nut tree, also beautiful, is often used as a metaphor for beauty, a beauty tree.
Beautiful betel nut trees
Contradictory betel nut trees
Betel nut is native to Malaysia, and China is mainly distributed in tropical areas such as Yunnan, Hainan and Taiwan.
Speaking of the betel nut tree, it should be said that it is the way of the four southern medicines; It should also be said that it is listed by the World Health Organization as 120 first-class carcinogens.
Speaking of betel nut trees, it is said that it has huge industrial potential; It should also be said that it is the fourth major hobby after tobacco, alcohol and coffee.
Speaking of the betel nut tree, we must say its past and present lives; Also say its customs and folklore.
This is a very contradictory tree.
This is a tree where those who love to die and those who hate hate to die.
This is a tree with rich connotations.
The first time I went to the betel nut industry subsidiary company research, colleagues took a variety of flavors of betel nut products for me to taste, all kinds of inducements, I am not moved, mainly because of timidity, do not dare. Colleagues who often eat betel nut despise me; People who don't have this habit say, "You're right, don't eat, I ate it for the first time and fainted for half an hour." Everyone laughed.
Betel nut tree in Hainan
Steeped in history, imperial tribute
It is generally believed that the earliest record of betel nut appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, and Sima Xiang refers to betel nut as in "Leaving Behind Xu Evil, Ren Pin and Lu" in the Shanglin Fu. In the early days, betel nuts mostly existed in various foreign objects in the southern "rare fruit", such as the Eastern Han Dynasty Yang Fu in the "Foreign Objects Chronicle" has the following description of betel nuts: "Betel nuts are like a pole, the seed is hard, the stem is straight, and there are no branches and leaves." Flowerless and solid, as big as a peach plum, cut its epidermis, boil its skin, cook it, hard as a dry date. He also said, "Betel nuts can forget their worries."
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty invaded South Vietnam, relieved the army of betel nuts, built the Fuli Palace in Xi'an after the achievement, widely planted Nanmu, and betel nuts were included in the list. The incident is recorded in the "Records of History", "Three Auxiliary Yellow Maps" and the Museum of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty in present-day Guangzhou.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Kingdom of Gandali (present-day Sumatra) paid tribute to betel nut, and the imperial court gave it to the ministers, and the poems of the courtiers' thanks were mostly recorded in the History of Liang.
In the Tang Dynasty, the custom of eating betel nut was further developed. Li Bai's "Yuzhen Princess Annex Bitter Rain Gift To Wei Wei Zhang Qing's Second Song" has: "When the golden plate, a betel nut is recommended." ”
Betel nut spread rapidly in the Song Dynasty, and there are more than 100 poems related to betel nut in the Song Dynasty. When Su Shi was demoted to Danzhou, he wrote many betel nut poems such as "Eating Betel Nut", "Wing Betel Nut", and "Titled Jiang Xiulang Several Rooms". In the poem "Title Jiang Xiulang Several Rooms", it is written that "the red tide on the cheeks increases the femininity, who knows that Nong is a drunken betel nut".
The habit of eating betel nut rose to a fashionable high consumption in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Cao Xueqin also has this description in the sixty-fourth time of "Dream of the Red Chamber": "Jia Lian saw the second sister fiddling with a silk with a purse in her hand, so she hooked up, touched her waist, and said: 'The betel nut purse has also forgotten to bring, and my sister has betel nut, try me a bite to eat'." The second sister said: 'There is betel nut, but my betel nut is never eaten', jia lian smiled and wanted to get close to it."
Qianlong good betel nut, there are two Persian handicrafts used to hold betel nut and Tian Yu jar is the long-lived Qianlong lifelong love. The two objects are now preserved in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Jiaqing approved on the fold: "You often take betel nut, Ru can be used at any time", "Only one betel nut, you often take it, and each time you present it with tribute, there is no mistake". The two folds are now preserved in the First Historical Archive of China.
A small fruit, a hundred turns a thousand times
The first of the four southern medicines
During the Three Kingdoms period, Li Dangzhi's "Medicine Record", Wu Pu's "Wu Pu Materia Medica", the Western Jin Dynasty Ji Han's "Southern Grass and Wood", the Eastern Jin Dynasty Ge Hong's "Elbow Reserve Emergency", the Northern Wei Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Zhi Shu", the Southern Dynasty Tao Hongjing's "Famous Doctors' Records" and other documents all mention the effects of betel nut in qi, valley elimination, water removal, phlegm removal, insecticide, corpse removal, beriberi treatment, and treatment of inch white, which are a relatively common Traditional Chinese medicine.
The 2015 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia contains more than 60 kinds of betel nut-related tablets and prescription preparations. According to data from the Drug Regulatory Department, 225 drugs on the mainland contain betel nut.
Traditional medicine believes that betel nut has the effect of "killing insects, breaking accumulation, deflating stagnation, and hydrating wet", and has been used to treat parasitic infections such as tapeworms, hookworms, roundworms, circumferential worms, and ginger flakes.
The four-mill soup composed of betel nut and black medicine, ginseng and agarwood is mainly used to treat "seven emotions of the reverse, wheezing, and obstruction of not eating", and the folk have the tradition of taking the four-mill soup after a week of birth, which is said to be beneficial to the child's stomach and intestines, and will not make trouble in the future.
Chewing betel nut can also make people feel comfortable, euphoric, can improve people's endurance, the appearance of heart rate rise, blood pressure increase, body fever, facial redness, slight sweating and other phenomena, and through the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve effects, so that the temperature of the ear and forehead rises by 2 ° C and 0.5 ° C, respectively, play a refreshing role. Stopping chewing can lead to mood swings, anxiety, irritability, reduced concentration, and sleep disorders.
Based on the above observations, contemporary researchers have been studying the special efficacy of betel nut in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, and preliminary research results show that betel nut extract treats depression and anxiety disorders, which have fewer side effects than current medicinal uses. The future market potential is huge.
Betel nut peel into medicine
Dried betel nut into medicine
The huge industrial potential of betel nut
Betel nut has been introduced and cultivated in China for more than 1500 years. After being introduced into China, betel nut gradually changed from a medicine to a pastime food, and was especially loved by people in the Lingnan and Hunan Xiangtan regions, and even became a must-have for hospitality and wedding etiquette. Nowadays, the mainland is the second largest producer of betel nut in the world, and the betel nut chewing population is mainly distributed in Hainan, Taiwan and Hunan provinces.
In 2017, there were more than 30 large-scale enterprises engaged in betel nut processing in Xiangtan, with an annual output of more than 200,000 tons, employing nearly 300,000 people, and the value of the betel nut industry exceeded 15 billion yuan. The local government also issued the "Opinions of the People's Government of Xiangtan County on Supporting the Development of the Betel Nut Industry", proposing to strive to achieve the sales revenue of the betel nut industry of 30 billion yuan in 3 years and 50 billion yuan in 5 years.
In October 2020, a set of data mentioned by Hainan Daily showed that as of the end of 2019, the planting area of betel nut in Hainan Province reached 1.78 million mu, which is an important source of economic income for 2.3 million farmers in Hainan, accounting for 41.37% of the province's agricultural population, and it is estimated that the total output value of betel nut in 2020 can reach 14.68 billion yuan. Betel nut has now developed into the second largest crop in Hainan Province after rubber, and is also the raw material supply base for the hunan betel nut industry.
In 2021, China Market Supervision News published an article saying that from 2011 to 2018, the output value of China's betel nut industry rose from 55.8 billion yuan to 78.1 billion yuan, and showed a continuous upward trend.
Betel nut is the food and clothing parent of many people.
Top 10 brands of betel nut
Other ways to eat betel nut
In fact, there are many other ways to eat betel nut, first look at the following picture:
Pay attention to that bag
The betel nut flower has just been brewed, before it has officially grown, it is the bag in the picture above, peeled out, stewed soup, is the local people just like this cup of soup.
That flower bud, dried, substitute tea soup, refreshing, taste good.
Dried betel nut flowers, as a souvenir of travel, also sell well.
Betel nuts cause cancer
Finally, it is necessary to say that betel nut causes cancer.
In 2003, the International Center for Research on Cancer (IRAC) recognized betel nut as a Class I carcinogen. Subsequently, the World Health Organization announced betel nut as one of 120 first-class carcinogens; Subsequently, in the list of carcinogens published by the State Food and Drug Administration of China, betel nut fruit and betel nut chewing blocks were listed as first-class carcinogens, along with arsenic (arsenic).
Scary isn't it?
But do you know what else are among these 120 first-class carcinogens?
A variety of alcoholic beverages.
Acetaldehyde in wine.
Salted fish.
Smoke.
Second-hand smoke.
Wait a minute.
Therefore, do it and cherish it, life is not easy, life is not easy, life is not easy.