Cartier Coco

The sugary scent released by the shrub’s leaves, long common in Asian desserts, is making its way into other aromatic products around the world. 

The Sweet, Adaptable Aroma of Southeast Asia’s Pandan Plant

Perhaps each of us has a Proustian trigger: a sensation that suddenly uncovers a memory buried in time, and by meeting our tongues, eyes, ears, or hands—or in this particular case, my nose—the trigger reveals a moment we’ve forgotten.

Twenty-five years ago, while walking through Singapore on a dark summer night with my family, we stumbled upon a barely lit jungle gym in a small public square. It was empty, save for a single food hawker closing up shop for the night, and a scent—unrecognizable to me as a child—wafting through the air from his cart.

At once herbaceous, sweet, and pungent—musky, with a verdant edge, like grassy vanilla—the aroma made its way into my nostrils, prompting me to stop and stare at the cart. My dad took me over to the man, who smiled, and placed a small pink cake into a steamer, warming it for a moment. He then slid the treat into a paper sleeve and handed it to me, a singular steamy redolence rising from the rim. Because I had no idea what it was or how to find it again, the snack’s floral scent followed me for years like a ghost I didn’t know was there.

Fast-forward to the present, when the object of this affectionate remembrance, thanks to the good folks at New York’s 

, has finally been revealed to me. What I ate—and sniffed—that night was a form of 

, a bite-size, rice-based dessert that’s common across Southeast Asia and that comes in a rainbow of colors. 

 often gets its delightful smell from the creative use of pandan, or screwpine, a tropical plant that grows abundantly in the region and sprouts highly fragrant, blade-shaped leaves.

According to Barnny Lim, who handles business development at the café, pandan “is used mainly to give [food] a green color from a natural source. Its juice is extracted from the leaves, and mixed with the ingredients.” Its aromatic impact, he continues, is equally striking. “Pandan, in its raw form or when cooked, has an aroma similar to vanilla, which is its unique and distinctive quality,” he says. “[It] doesn’t have a specific flavor, other than its inherent grass [taste], which makes it adaptable to other flavors.”

Perhaps that’s why the perfumy plant is becoming increasingly common in fare prepared far beyond where it grows natively. (In 2017, the prominent English food writer Nigella Lawson 

 that pandan would soon surpass matcha and avocado toast in popularity in the United States, followed by Britain.) The enigmatic palm can currently be found in everything from ice cream—

 incorporates swirls of pandan jelly, while New York’s Chinatown Ice Cream Factory offers scoops of

 intended for topping toast or cakes. Its scent has permeated industries outside the culinary world, too: Cab drivers in Vietnam are fond of using the leaves as air fresheners for their cars, while the Indian fragrance brand Kannauj Attar offers a 

 that doubles as a refreshing, honey-like perfume.

But for those who were raised around the plant, its fragrance can be less a satisfying scent than a powerful, somatic reminder of home. “Many born in Southeast Asia grow up eating items flavored with pandan, both in day-to-day life and also during festivities,” Lim says. “When one catches a sniff of the pandan aroma, it can transport them back to that time, and allow them to reminisce about those cherished moments.”

Nine Timeless Gifts for the 2023 Holiday Season

The 7 Best Books of the Year

Lara Gilmore on the Media That Brings Out Her Inner Child

A Liberating, Time-Traveling Journey Through Family, History, and Memory

Katy Bowman on Why “Movement Nutrition” Matters

Phaidon’s Emilia Terragni on the Media That Satiates Her Roving Curiosity

With “Open Questions,” Helen Molesworth Opens Up New Ways of Seeing Art

Stefan Sagmeister Finds Optimism in the Long View

How Stoicism Can Cultivate Joy

Spike Lee’s Prolific Career Gets the Spotlight, Naturally, in Brooklyn

Roxane Gay Balances Her Content Intake Between the Real and the Imagined

The Gossamer Glow of Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Roman Stories”

The Sweet, Adaptable Aroma of Southeast Asia’s Pandan Plant

Keep Reading

Nine Timeless Gifts for the 2023 Holiday Season

The 7 Best Books of the Year

Lara Gilmore on the Media That Brings Out Her Inner Child

A Liberating, Time-Traveling Journey Through Family, History, and Memory

Katy Bowman on Why “Movement Nutrition” Matters

Phaidon’s Emilia Terragni on the Media That Satiates Her Roving Curiosity

With “Open Questions,” Helen Molesworth Opens Up New Ways of Seeing Art

Stefan Sagmeister Finds Optimism in the Long View

How Stoicism Can Cultivate Joy

Spike Lee’s Prolific Career Gets the Spotlight, Naturally, in Brooklyn

Roxane Gay Balances Her Content Intake Between the Real and the Imagined

The Gossamer Glow of Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Roman Stories”

5 Exhibitions You Can’t Miss This Fall

Lindsey Bro on the Cathartic, Humanizing Effect of Bathing Rituals

At New York’s Climate Week, a “Climate Science Fair” Cultivates Optimism and Future-Forward Thinking

David W. Orr on the Inextricable Links Between Climate and Democracy

William Hanley on Media That Adds a Bit of Whimsy to the Everyday

A Dynamic, City-Defining Riverfront Park Grows in Memphis

The Vibrant, Kaleidoscopic Color Theory of Christopher John Rogers

Desiring Beauty, Even If It Kills Us

Eddie Stern on the Physiological and Spiritual Power of Pranayama

vanessa german on Art as a Way of Life and Love as a “Human Technology”

The Go-To Routines and Rituals of Daphne Javitch

Beverly Nguyen’s Highly Tactile Taste in Media

In “Look,” Christian Madsbjerg Celebrates the Slow, Patient Act of Observation

Sara Auster on Fine-Tuning Your Life Through Sound Therapy

A Herzog & de Meuron Exhibition Emphasizes Architecture as Collective, Not Egocentric

Priya Khanchandani on the Media That Inspires Her Curatorial Work

Vivian Rosenthal on the Profound Power of Holotropic Breathwork

Pedro Gadanho on How Architecture Must Adapt to Our Ecological Emergency

In “Ordinary Notes,” Christina Sharpe Weaves a Profound Portrait of Black Life

The Alchemy of David Adjaye’s Architecture

Millana Snow’s New Well-Being Plan

5 Exhibitions You Must See This Summer

Jaé Joseph on Broadening Notions of Luxury and Well-Being

The Poetic, Humanistic Architecture of Lina Ghotmeh

Chris Impey on the New Space Race and Exoplanet Habitation

Norman Teague on How He Keeps His Finger on the Pulse

With His Monumental Bronze Sculptures, Thomas J Price Honors the Everyday Features of Black Life

In “Not Too Late,” a Vital, Kaleidoscopic View on the Climate Crisis