Moisture content and water activity of arecanut samples: A need to revisit storage guidelines

Arecanut (Areca catechu L.), also called betel nut, is an economically important palm species (Jaiswal et al., 2011). The palm is cultivated in most South Asian countries, including its major producers, India and China and other countries like Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka (Ramesh and Mohanraju, 2017). India is the largest producer of arecanut, accounting for 49.74 per cent of the world’s output, and the crop is grown in an area of 4.95 lakh ha with a production of 8.09 lakh tonnes of the dry kernel (http:// www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC). The economically important component of the palm, the fruit, goes for chewing as “supari” owing to its stimulant effects and a minor fraction of the production for other commercial purposes. Thus, the edible endosperm is widely used as a masticatory in India and South East Asia, either alone or as a constituent of the quid along with betel leaves, lime and tobacco. Depending upon the nature of end products, the fruit is harvested at different stages of maturity for processing. The most popular traded form of arecanut is the whole dried nut known as chali or kottapak. The fruit of the palm is dried under direct sunlight for around three weeks or even more to reduce the moisture content to around 12-15 per cent (d.b.) (Kulanthaisami et al., 2007; Kalamullah and Gunasekar, 2002). Subsequently, they are stored in gunny bags or wooden boxes as whole nuts or dehusked nuts until they are sold (Mathew et al., Moisture content and water activity of arecanut samples: A need to revisit storage guidelines