Prices of pandan leaves look set to hit new highs.

This was after celebrity TV chef Nigella Lawson waxed lyrical about pandan leaves, proclaiming it as the new hipster food fad that is already taking America by storm and will spread to the United Kingdom.

“I think it’s going to be the new matcha,” she reportedly said recently when referring to the ingredient.

Celebrity chef endorsed avocado

The last time Lawson came out to give a ringing endorsement of avocado by slapping some on her toast, sales went up by 30 percent.

And avocado became a hipster food.

Now, it is almost as if people in the West have never heard of pandan.

Well, apparently they have never come across it judging by their reaction.

A lot of publicity

This time, after her glowing review and positive assessment of pandan leaves, the British press went into overdrive.

An article in The Independent described pandan as "a new, obscure food could soon be taking over our Insta feeds".

To add to the eye-rolling, pandan is described as a "sweet, pungent, east Asian leaf which is likened to vanilla".

Within two days, press coverage by The Times spread to The Evening Standard, The Guardian and The Telegraph, as all these papers dedicated articles to pandan leaves.

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Outsider view of pandan leaves

How is pandan perceived and described by people half the world away from Asia? Well, like this:

Otherwise known as screw pine, Pandan is a herbaceous plant that grows in southeast Asia and is often used to flavour desserts and drinks.

In some instances, it’s also ground into a paste and used in savoury dishes to flavour rice or wrap up food.

And their impression is that pandan essence is good for cakes.

Pandan leaves fetch high prices

The best part though?

Pandan leaves are indeed obscure in the UK.

According to The Guardian, no major UK supermarket stocks pandan leaves yet, but it can be bought online.

A 200g bunch of fresh leaves costs about £7 or S$9.23, including postage.

In Singapore, 200g of pandan leaves is about S$1.50 to S$2.

How food is passed off as legit fare:

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