Fragrance unique characteristic of Thai desserts

Fragrance is another unique characteristic of Thai desserts. There are many ways of making good aromas with Thai desserts but the most common ones are using jasmine flowers (Dok Ma Li), rosa damascene (Dok Ku Laab Mon - roses family), cananga odorata flowers (Dok Kra Dang Nga) as well as fragrant incense candles (Tien Ob).

Since the old days,

Thais love using jasmine water in desserts because of its aroma. Thais would pick jasmine flowers around 6pm and gently rinse with water so that the flowers do not get bruised. The jasmine flowers (Dok Ma Li) are then soaked in water with a closed lid, and left until around 6am-7am the next morning. The resulting scented water is then used to make the dessert. Keeping the jasmine flowers for more than 12 hours will start to bruise the flowers and the water will not have a good aroma.

Rosa damascene (Dok Ku Laab Mon) is used in a different way. Thais only use the pedals. Each pedal is torn into 2 or 3 pieces and then placed in a closed container that has a dessert in it for a certain period of time, usually overnight. For cananga odorata flowers (Dok Kra Dang Nga), Thais first burn them with a fragrant incense candle, and then place only the pedals in a closed container that holds the dessert. For some desserts, burning fragrant incense candles next to desserts in closed containers will be enough to give the desserts an intricate aroma.