Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
Flavoring extract prepared from the heartwood of acacia catechu grown in India, Hindustan, Ceylon, and Jamaica. Used in bitters, fruit, and drum flavorings for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods, and chewing gum. Used also for staining wood and dying fabrics. The powder is used in fruit, rum, and spice flavorings for beverages, ice cream, candy, baked goods, and chewing gum. Incompatible with iron compounds, gelatin, lime water, and zinc sulfate. Catechu has been used as an astringent in diarrhea. No known toxicity.
Excerpted from Montagne, Prosper. 1961. Larousee Gastronomique. The Encyclopedia of Food, Wine & Cookery. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
is thick sap which comes from a variety of indian acacia (catechu), Areca catechu betel nut. The catechu is found in compact, heavy, friable, irregular masses, brownish on the outside and reddish-brown on the inside. It should neither stick to the tongue nor tint the saliva red.
Its taste, at first bitter and astringent, becomes sweet and clean - without any smell. The most highly prized are the Ceylon catechu and that of Pegu (Burma), which has medicinal properties.
The catechu contains a strong proportion of tannin, which gives it its astringent properties.