Spices and Condiments (1+1)

Grading and Packaging

 
• Harvested leaves are washed, cleaned and graded according to their size and quality. Then they are packed after cutting a portion of the petiole and rejecting the damaged leaves. All growers do not grade their leaves. The picked leaves are sorted into different grades according to size, colour, texture and maturity. After that, they are arranged in numbers (the number varies from place-to-place) for packing. Grading and packing of leaves are very specialized jobs. For packing mostly bamboo baskets are used and in many places straw: fresh or dried banana leaves, wet cloth etc. are used for inner lining. In Tamilnadu, 100-200 leaves form a Kavili and 10 kavilis form a palgai.
• Usually betel leaves are used for chewing as fresh unprocessed. But in certain areas, leaves are subjected to processing known as bleaching or curing. There is a good, demand for such leaves which fetch higher prices in the markets. Bleaching is done by successive heat treatments at 60°-70°C for 6-Shr.