Кевра

The plant is a small branched, palm-like dioecious tree. Male and female flowers are produced on different plants, and only the flowers of the male plant are harvested to extract the floral bouquet. The flower of the female plant has no floral bouquet.

Pandanus odorifer is native to South East Asia, the Andaman Islands and the Philippines, and is also found wild in southern India and Burma. The Ganjam district of Odisha supplies about 85-90% of India's kewda essence. Ganjam Kewda, the male flower of the fragrant screwpine from which kewda oil is extracted in India, is registered under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. The plants flower three times a year, in summer, the monsoon season and autumn. A majority of the flowers that provide the best floral bouquet grow during the monsoon season (July-September). The male flower spikes are 25-50 cm (10-20 in) long.

The chief constituent of kewda oil is the methyl ether of beta-phenylethyl alcohol (60-80%), which gives the characteristic aroma of the flowers. In kewda oil from water distillation of the staminate inflorescences, the major components were 2-phenethyl methyl ether (65.6-75.4%), terpinen-4-ol (11.7-19.5%), p-cymene (1.0-3.1%) and alpha-terpineol (1.2-2.9%). Hydrodistilled kewda oil includes more than sixty components. The methyl ether of beta-phenylethyl alcohol is synthesized on a large scale in India and used to make so-called kewda products. Genuine oil contains a great number of other aromatic molecules besides it. A simple GC/MS analysis easily detects adulteration with it and shows the complexity of the real oil.

Pandanus amaryllifolius, whose fragrant leaves flavor rice and curries, is a different plant from the kewra plant. The characteristic aroma of pandan, Pandanus amaryllifolius, is caused by the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline.

Culinary use

The hydrosol is used to flavor sweets such as rasgulla, rasmalai and gulab jamun, and rice dishes such as biryanis. The aqueous distillate is quite diluted and can be used by the teaspoon, often even by the tablespoon. The most elaborate recipes for aromatic rice dishes sometimes call for kewra water to be sprinkled over the rice just before serving.

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