May 23, 2017 – I sure write a lot about food, which surprises no one who knows me.

Today, I fixated upon firni, a sweet rice pudding with pistachios. Of course, I had to waste time do research, which led to fun with recipes. My favorite contained this ingredient:

2 tsps. Kewra water/Orris Water – (also called screwpine essence or Pandan essence)

Screwpine essence! What the heck is a screwpine? Hello, Wikipedia!

Pandanus is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species.^[2] They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics.

Monocots? Dioecius? I’ll spare you the definitions, but be assured I looked them up, too. Suffice it to say that plants are sexy. Anyway, here’s a screwpine, which is way more fun to say than pandan.

And here’s a recipe for firni with stuff you can find in your neighborhood supermarket. Except for maybe the edible rose petals. Are some rose petals inedible? Looks like I’ve stumbled upon another research project.