Manufacturing Process
Good quality of Khair Tree (Acacia Catechu) is procured from various parts of India. Each log is manually stripped & made free from Sapwood. The heartwood is mechanically chipped into small pieces and cooked under pressure. The liquor obtained contains Catechu which is concentrated in multistage evaporator. On chilling the concentrated liquor crystals of Catechu are produced. Crystals are carefully filtered in controlled conditions. The filtered mass is mashed and cut into Biscuits and slowly dried at low temperatures.
Specifications
Commercially the Catechu (Katha) is valued on the basis of its texture, paste value (8-10 times) and smell. However, detailed analysis of a typical sample is given below:
Uses of Catechu
It is traditionally being used as mouth freshener with Betel quid in India. The new generation of mouth fresheners, like Pan Masala deploys Catechu as chief ingredient with Areca nuts and sometimes with chewing tobacco. Catechu is an astringent and has distinct bitterness followed by cool-sweetness. It also finds use as flavoring agent in condiments, ice-creams, candy, beverages etc. Since ages, the medicinal uses of catechu are well known. It finds major use in treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, ailments of mouth, gums, tonsils etc. Many new uses of catechins (which are the natural chief ingredients of catechu) like antioxidant, skin care, anti-diabetic, anti-inflamatory are reported.