The Indian Mouth-Freshener … Paan!
Jun 6, 2014
Relishing a four course meal, starts with the exquisite soup, starters, main course and the delectable desserts. And to please our taste-buds, we forget the capacity of our stomach, hogging everything on the table. At the end, being a bit worried about the digestion of the heavy meal, we eat a Paan, an Indian traditional digestive and mouth freshener. Not only it tastes splendid being sweet spicy, minty, freshening our mouth, but also boosts digestion with its ingredients being most of the time areca nut, catechu paste and slaked lime paste added to the betel leaf. The other scientific advantages are – it reduces the blood pressure, relieves hunger, eliminates bad breath and strengthens the teeth. Paan is also served in traditional ceremonies like marriages, receptions and religious festivals as a mark of respect to the guests.
Thus, today we tell you more about the renowned variety of the India’s favourite mouth freshening and digestive treat- Paaan!
Magai Pann:
The Magai Paan with its delicious and fascinating taste, is known as the Indian Chewing gum!A leaf available in both shades of green is smaller in size as compared to the other betel leaf types. It is consumed after a heavy spicy meal like Mughlai. It is made using approximately 20 ingredients including the famous betel and there are many fragrant ingredients like clove, rose petal, gulkand, some other types of nuts, a few spices and a lot of secret ingredients making it a heavenly post meal ‘digestive- hors de oeuvre’.
Benarasi Paan:
Benarasi paan is a light green colored leaf and is famous throughout the world as a Betel Leaf Type. It gets its exquisite flavours from gulkand, grated coconut and dry dates flavours and some additional spices, all rolled in a betel leaf. It certainly needs artistic and experienced hands for the perfect quantity and blending of ingredients for the apt delicious taste. This type of paan is occasionally dipped in the rose water to add on its distinctive taste.
Kalkatta Paan:
Kalkatta (Kolkata) Paan is a dark green coloured betel leaf and has a deliciously distinctive taste. The key factors to its perfect flavour is the paan masala, usually hand made by the paanwala himself, or also add the ready -made paan masala. Gulkand is added, but the kalkatta paan demands a balanced sweet, spicy and minty taste. The ingredients like choto elach and chabanbahar add to the uniqueness of the delicious paan melting in the mouth!
The above varieties are customized in different states, at different paanwalas by thousands of people making innumerable recipes of Paan! Some prefer ‘SadaPaan’ the simplest type, some prefer Meetha Paana sweet paan along with the additional spices like fennel seeds, cinnamom powder etc, gulkand, tutty fruity etc. The other famous type, especially among the aged population is Tambakhu Paan – a sada paan to which tobacco leaf powder is added.
This Indian Mouth-freshener is a perfect end to an exquisite fulsome meal. Certainly, Paan is a delicious indulgence at any time of the day and is an eatable requiring artistic hand to please the best to the tongues.
