Lakpura Betel Nut (Areca catechu) Whole is dried areca nut from Sri Lanka, sold as whole nuts rather than slices or powder. Each nut is the hard seed of the areca palm, its husk removed to show the mottled, net-patterned brown surface. In Sri Lanka it is known as puwak, and more widely as betel nut, because it has long been chewed wrapped in a betel leaf.
Areca holds a settled place in Sri Lankan ceremony. A tray of betel leaves with areca nut is offered to elders, teachers and monks as a mark of respect, and a sheaf of betel leaves is exchanged at the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, at weddings and at the doors of temples. The nut is part of that ritual setting, and the palm itself is grown across the wetter districts of the island.
Areca nut carries a serious health risk, and we want that to be plain. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies areca nut on its own as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), and betel quid chewed without tobacco is also in Group 1, linked to cancer of the mouth. Areca is the principal cause of oral submucous fibrosis, and its alkaloid arecoline is dependence-forming.
Nothing on this page is a recommendation to chew areca nut or to eat it in any form. Import of areca nut is restricted in some countries: in the United States, for example, food products that are or contain areca nut are subject to detention at the border under a Food and Drug Administration import alert. Please check the rules of your own country before ordering.
