Catechu ( or ) is an extract of acacia trees used variously as a food additive,

astringent An astringent (sometimes called adstringent) is a chemical that shrinks or constricts body tissues. The word derives from the Latin ''adstringere'', which means "to bind fast". Calamine lotion, witch hazel, and yerba mansa, a Californian pla ...

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...

, and dye. It is extracted from several species of '' Acacia'', but especially '' Senegalia catechu'' (''Acacia catechu''), by boiling the wood in water and evaporating the resulting brew. It is also known as cutch, black cutch, cachou, cashoo, terra Japonica, or Japan earth, and also in Hindi, in Marathi, in Odia, in Assamese and Bengali, and in Malay (hence the Latinized ''Acacia catechu'' chosen as the

Linnaean taxonomy Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts: # The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his ''Systema Naturae'' (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus t ...

name of the type-species Acacia plant which provides the extract).

Uses

As an

it has been used since ancient times in Ayurvedic medicine as well as in breath-freshening spice mixtures—for example in France and Italy it is used in some

licorice Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted. The liq ...

pastilles A pastille is a type of sweet or medicinal pill made of a thick liquid that has been solidified and is meant to be consumed by light chewing and allowing it to dissolve in the mouth. The term is also used to describe certain forms of incense. ...

. It is also an important ingredient in South Asian cooking paan mixtures, such as ready-made

paan masala Betel nut chewing, also called betel quid chewing or areca nut chewing, is a practice in which areca nuts (also called "betel nuts") are chewed together with slaked lime and betel leaves for their stimulant and narcotic effects. The practice ...

and

gutka Gutka, ghutka, guṭkha or betel quid is a chewing tobacco preparation made of crushed areca nut (also called betel nut), tobacco, catechu, paraffin wax, slaked lime (Calcium hydroxide) and sweet or savory flavourings, in India, Pakistan, other ...

. The catechu mixture is high in natural vegetable

s (which accounts for its astringent effect), and may be used for the

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

of animal hides. Early research by

Humphry Davy Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...

in the early 19th century first demonstrated the use of catechu in tanning over more expensive and traditional oak extracts. Under the name ''cutch'', it is a brown dye used for

and dyeing and for preserving

fishing net A fishing net is a Net (device), net used for fishing. Nets are devices made from fibers woven in a grid-like structure. Some fishing nets are also called fish traps, for example #Fyke nets, fyke nets. Fishing nets are usually meshes formed by ...

s and sails. Cutch will dye

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

, and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

a yellowish-brown. Cutch gives gray-browns with an

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

mordant and olive-browns with a

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mordant. Black catechu has recently also been used by Blavod Drinks Ltd. to dye their

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

black. White cutch, also known as gambier, gambeer, or gambir, which is extracted from ''

Uncaria gambir ''Uncaria gambir'', the gambier or gambir, is a species of plant in the genus '' Uncaria'' found in Southeast Asia, mainly Malaysia and Indonesia. Extract Gambier extract is used or has been used as a catechu for chewing with areca and betel, ...

'' has the same uses. Palm-catechu is extracted from the seeds of ''

Areca catechu ''Areca catechu'' is a species of palm which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. The palm is believed to have originated in the Philippines, but is widespread in cultivation and is considered naturalized in so ...

''.Buchheister G.A.: ''Handbuch der Drogisten-Praxis.'' Zweite Auflage, Springer, 1891, p. 322, .

Derivative chemicals

The catechu extract gave its name to the

catechin Catechin is a flavan-3-ol, a type of secondary metabolite providing antioxidant roles in plants. It belongs to the subgroup of polyphenols called flavonoids. The name of the catechin chemical family derives from ''catechu'', which is the tanni ...

and

catechol Catechol ( or ), also known as pyrocatechol or 1,2-dihydroxybenzene, is a toxic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is the ''ortho'' isomer of the three isomeric benzenediols. This colorless compound occurs naturally in trace amoun ...

chemical families first derived from it.

References

External links

An OCR'd version of the US Dispensatory by Remington and Wood, 1918.
{{dyeing Plant dyes Spices Tannins

Uses

Derivative chemicals

See also

References

External links