The Bright Green Flavor Called Pandan

It’s beginning to expand beyond Asian cooking, and you might enjoy it

I stopped into Two Songs Bakery in Ann Arbor recently to look at the pastry case and pick out a treat for the weekend. Jenny Song and her mother (the two Songs) always put on a variety of muffins, bars, cookies, buns and more, many with an Asian influence.

A bright green coffee cake caught my eye. It was made with pandan, which I always have thought of as Asian vanilla.

It turns out that I am a bit off base. Pandan is a plant that is grown widely throughout Southeast Asia. The juice is extracted from the leaves and is often added to coconut milk. You can buy frozen pandan leaves in Asian grocery stores, and you can also buy pandan extract, as well as pandan food coloring.