Betel nut are psychoactive, but there's a trick: the nuts need to be chewed with a small amount of agricultural lime. The lime makes the compound active as it does with coca leaves. Mix 1/2 g burnt lime (hydrated calcium oxide) with one Betel Nut, preferably in a semi-powdered form. Lime can be purchased at garden stores, but you want to be sure to use pure lime and not fertilizer. The lime and Betel Nut mix is placed in the side of the mouth for a two hour period, and the saliva is spat out occasionally. It acts as a stimulant, nice though it can jangle your nerves a bit.

Some people chew the nuts without lime simply for the taste. You can buy a variety of flavored betel nuts from online vendors and they are generally quite inexpensive. Betel nuts can also be brewed like coffee, rolled into cigarettes, or mixed with acacia gum, lime, and a dash of nutmeg as a sweet as is done in Malaysia. The leaf is also used as a paper for rolling tobacco and herbs.