Also called screwpine, pandan is a fragrant plant mainly used for its floral aroma. Southeast Asian cuisine uses pandan heavily and Western countries have slowly started adopting it too. The leaves may be boiled, or used to wrap meat in. The pandan fruit is also edible, which can be eaten raw or boiled and ground into a paste. Pandan leaves are readily available at Asian grocery stores across the world. Like pandan, lemongrass is native to South and Southeast Asia too. It has a strong lemon-like smell and is used extensively to flavour food and drinks. Lemongrass flowers in the winter. It is first harvested four to six months after the seedlings have been transplanted. Fresh lemongrass contains approximately 0.3% oil, which is often extracted for aromatic use. Pandan lemongrass jelly iced tea combines both pandan and lemongrass, and is the Thai version of bubble tea.
