Just Walking Around

Mukhvas and Paan ----After dinner mouth freshener

What is the last thing that you eat after dinner once the bill is paid and ready to leave. Its those brightly colored green and red sugar coated mixture of saunf , jintan (silver mini balls) , dhania daal that gives a sweet after taste and kill the foul breath. Yes it’s the Indian Mukhvas the Indian recipe for after food digestive and a mouth freshener.

Mukhvas is a colorful Indian after-meal snack or digestive aid. It also freshens your breath. It can be made of various seeds and nuts, but often found with fennel seeds, anise seeds, coconut, and sesame seeds. They are sweet in flavor and highly aromatic due to added sugar and the addition of various essential oils, including peppermint oil. The seeds can be savory or sweet-coated in sugar and brightly colored. Plain water drunk after chewing and consuming the fennel seeds contained therein tastes extremely sweet.

Occasionally, this is eaten for medicinal purposes.The word is an amalgamation of two distinctly different words, Mukh meaning mouth and Vas meaning smell.

If want to understand the serious business of Mukhwas ask any of your Gujarati friend what variety they keep as Mukhvas in their homes as standard. He / She will rattle off names like Jamnagri mixture , Sekeli Variyaali ane Sekeli dal mix , Ajwain dal (carom seeds) , Suwa Dal , Aam Chokhi (sweet & sour mango candy strips), Anar dana (spicy &sour dried pomegranate seed candy which is an after meal digestive) , Anar vati (spicy & sweet pomegranate seed tablet shaped candy which has medicinal property to control Blood Pressure and helps in improving  Iron absorption) , Drakshya vati (grape digestive) , Galya Amla ( amla candy strips) , Harde (little pungent pellets specially for those complaining of gas and flatulence) , Imgli goli (those small round balls made of Imli with is tangy taste and made famous by Jet Airways ) , Jeera goli (those dark colored balls with spicy sour taste) , Keri vati (raw mango candy) . Some others like Khari Khati Gotli which is lip smacking but also helps relieves head ache and known to cure diarrhea and fights obesity.

Some other variants are Pineapple vati ( pineapple flavored digestive) , Aam vati (ripe mango digestive), Sweet Ambodiya , Teekha Ambodiya , Hing Goli (asafetida falvoured) , Adrakh sadi (ginger flavored) to name few.

Then there are the other famous mixtures like Green Mukhvas – the colorful mixture widely available and favorite of all. The Rashbahri Variali (rashbhari flavored fennel seeds).Other favorite are the various suparis like Milky Supari (soft and sweet after meal tit-bits) , Pineapple Supari ,Kesar tukda and Kolkatta tukda. Then there are the special pan falvoured mukhwas like Kolkatta pan mukhwas , Paan gilori (dates filled with kolkatta pan mix) and the dried sahi paan mix.

All these fascinating digestive candies and mixtures and home made or sourced from special manufacturer like Mama Mukhwas Wala of Ahmedabad started 60 years ago as Jalaram Mukhwas by Kanhiyalal Pandhi , who sold home made pouches of mukhwas going door to door in Ahemdabad. The small business got a big boost when it received an order 5 timesthe scented supari  it stocked.The business outgrew and metamorphosed into Mama Mukhwas wala in 1990 . Its initial offerings were the crushed supari , digestive gollis (pellets ) and variyali. Today is boasts of a state of the art manufacturing set up and exports its mukhwas across the globe. Becoming a well known brand “Mama Mukhwas Wala” . Be sure to pick some of its tastiest product next time you are in Ahmedabad.

The other mouth freshner we Indians have been habituated is the Paan . Paan , from Sanskrit parṇa, meaning "leaf” is a preparation combining betel leaf with areca nut and sometimes also with tobacco.It is chewed for its stimulant and psychoactive effects.After chewing it is either spat out or swallowed. Paan has many variations. Slaked lime (chunnam) paste is commonly added to bind the leaves. Some South Asian preparations include katha paste or mukhwas to freshen the breath.

Paan is a ubiquitous sight in many parts of South and South East Asia. It is known by various names , Glori in Urdu  Beeda in Hindi , thambulam in Tamil , Tha\mbula in Kannada , Killi in Telugu , Sireh in Malay , Sirih in Indonesia , Suruh in Javanese and Bulath in Sinhalese to name few. Story of Paan dates back to 16^th  century when Ghiyas-ud-din Khilji, the Sultan of Mandu (1469–1500), made his khamsama’s prepare a after meal shahi paan with tender betel leaves of the finest quality  spread out sprinkled with rosewater stuffed with betel nut , kattha ,gulkand and saffron. An elaborate betel chew or paan would also contain fragrant spices and rose preserves with chopped areca nuts.

It is a tradition in South India and nearby regions to give two Betel leaves, areca nut (pieces or whole) and Coconut to the guests (both male and female) at any auspicious occasion. Even on a regular day it is the tradition to give a married woman, who visits the house, two Betel leaves, areca nut and coconut or some fruits along with a string of threaded flowers. This is referred to as tambolam.

Betel leaf used to make paan is produced in different parts of India. Some states that produce betel leaf for paan include West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal two types of betel leaves are produced. These are "Bangala Patta (Country Leaf)" and Mitha Patta (Sweet Leaf)". In West Bengal, Bangla patta is produced mainly in district of Dinajpur, Malda, Jalpaiguri, and Nadia. Mitha patta is produced in places such as Midnapur and South 24 Parganas

The skilled paan maker is known as a paanwala in North India. In other parts, paanwalas are also known as panwaris or panwadis. And the best paan that you can get in a city of Mumbai are at 4 places .Mucchad Pan Wala (Breach Candy)- originally from Allahabad (UP)

Shyama Charan Tiwari came from Allahabad and started making paans from the same place where the famous Mucchad shop stands today. He has 4 sons, who in turn have 11 sons, and all of them stay together with all the love in a 200 sq feet place. They all keep a moustache and consider it their khandani pesha. It is due to their moustaches that they came to be know as Mucchads. Their 'maghai meetha paan' is simply delicious .They have introduced some more flavors to attract their customers and all the flavors are a big hit! Some to mention are, Chocolate, Strawberry, Raspberry, Pineapple, and Ganga Jamuna. Ganga Jamuna has a vareity of electrifying fillings to give you a kick. Ganga Jamuna is the most demanded among the customers.

Ghantawala Pan Mandir (Borivali): originally from Bhadohi (UP)Vinod Kumar Tiwari became famous as Ghantawala Panwala as he is a big Shiv bhakt and before he serves a paan to a customer, he rings the bell and serves the paan to Lord Shiva. His grandfather used to follow this tradition as a Kashi baba told him that Shiva is the only God who gives you more than your bhaag. This is the only paan shop in the world that holds a record in the Guinness book. Their loyal customers have brought 450 different bells over the years from across 169 countries in the world as a gift for him, that have all been displayed in his shop. And this is why he holds the record for the maximum number of bells in his shop. His chocolate paan and maghai meetha are very popular.

 Mama Panwala (King's Circle) originally from Pali (Rajasthan)

Dinesh Tak is an Electronics engineer from Mumbai University. His father was a paanwala who had come to Mumbai many decades ago with his bhanja, who also assisted him in making paans. He would all the time address him as 'Mama', which the customers also started emulating and he came to be known as 'Mama Panwala'. Dinesh, like his father, believes that a paan has natural digestive qualities and thus, he ensures that his paan has no artificial colours and he uses the best ingredients to keep it simple and tasty. Dinesh worked with an IT firm for five years, but today, prefers to make paans instead as that is his family business.

And last last but not the least Sharda Pan Bhandar (Shivaji Park)patronized by young and old alike from Dadar , Shivaji Park and Mahim . After dinner head to this small stall opposite the famous school Bal Mohan Vidya Mandir and which is open well in to the early hours of morning . You will always find this place crowded to tuck into its meetha paan or the special Magai or the recent favorite Chocolate paan stuffed with choco chips and can be had even by small kids. Something unusal is a paan going by the name of powder paan , though I haven’t tried it you can have go at it at your own risk.

So next time you have dinner and feel a little bloated either try the Mukhwas or the digestive gollis or if you in a mood to end the night on a Rasila note bite into a Kolkatta Meetha paan and have the time of your life.

As the famous Bollywood song from the original Don featuring the Superstar Amitabh Bacchan goes –

“Arrey bhang kaa rang jamaa ho chakaachak
Phir lo paan chabaay –

Arrey aisaa jhatkaa lage jiyaa pe

Punar janam hoi jaay

O khaike paan banaaras vaalaa
O khaike paan banaaras vaalaa ,

Khul jaaye band akal kaa taalaa.
Phir to aisaa kare dhamaal
Seedhi kar de sabki chaal”