Product Code Database
Catechu ( or ) is an extract of acacia trees used variously as a food additive, astringent, tannin, and dye. It is extracted from several species of Acacia, but especially Senegalia catechu (previously called Acacia catechu), by boiling the wood in water and evaporating the resulting brew. Cutch and catechu plant origin from the Food and Agriculture Department of the United Nations. Document repository accessed November 5, 2011 The Malay name is the basis of the Latinized Derivation of word from Malay catechu chosen as the Linnaean taxonomy name of the plant species which provides the extract.
The catechu mixture is high in natural vegetable (which accounts for its astringent effect), and may be used for the tanning of animal hides. Early research by Humphry Davy 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 tanning and dyeing and for preserving and . Cutch will dye wool, silk, and cotton a yellowish-brown. Cutch gives gray-browns with an iron mordant and olive-browns with a copper mordant.
Black catechu has recently also been used by Blavod Drinks Ltd. to dye their vodka black. See this reference for the use of the dye in vodka
White cutch, also known as gambier, gambeer, or gambir, which is extracted from Uncaria gambir Tanning, Dye & Processing Materials has the same uses. Palm-catechu is extracted from the seeds of Areca catechu.Buchheister G.A.: Handbuch der Drogisten-Praxis. Zweite Auflage, Springer, 1891, p. 322, .
|
|
