Day 111 - In the supermarket, I wanted to pick up a small package of these disposable plates for use with snacks this summer. There are a surprising amount of local products nowadays that use Sri Lankan agricultural products and medicines. The 'Duck Party Group' will undoubtedly get a chance to try appetizers in these.
Areca nuts grow very high on trees. They have some medicinal properties and people sometimes chew these as they are a stimulant and are often called betel nuts.
The seeds are protected by a large, natural cover. The sheets sometimes fall to the ground but you can see one high up in the tree that's on the Minuwangoda property.
This cover material is like a wood veneer and is what the plates were made from, apparently by just using heat and compression to mould them.
This is one areca nut tree found on the corner of our property. It's the middle tree. It is probably about eight to ten meters tall.