Pandanus amaryllifolius

pandan • fragrant pandan

Back to “Culinary herbs: pandan, pandan leaf (Pandanus amaryllifolius)*”

Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. (Pandanaceae); skroefpalm (Afrikaans); ban lan ye (Chinese); pandanus (French); Schraubenpalme, Pandanus (German); duan pandan (Indonesian); pandano (Italian); pandan rampeh, pandan wangi (Malay); pandano (Portuguese, Spanish); bai toey hom (Thai)

DESCRIPTION Wilted pandan leaves are strap-shaped, with minute teeth towards the tip. Fresh leaves become aromatic within a day or two when they wilt.

THE PLANT A palm-like plant of up to 1.5 m (5 ft) in height with erect stems bearing rosettes of sword-shaped leaves and occasional clusters of aerial roots. The plants are almost invariably sterile and hardly ever flower.

ORIGIN Southeast Asia. The exact origin is unknown, as the plant is an ancient cultigen that is now commonly grown in many parts of Asia (from southern India to New Guinea). The rare occurrence of male flowers on the Molucca Islands indicates that the species possibly originated there.1

CULTIVATION Seeds are never formed but plants are propagated with ease by simply cutting away partially rooted side branches. High rainfall and tropical conditions are required.

HARVESTING Leafy branches are cut off by hand and tied in large bundles. The slightly wilted leaves are sold individually on fresh produce markets, often tied into a characteristic knot as shown in the photograph.

CULINARY USES Wilted leaves have a delicious aroma similar to that found in scented rice. They are therefore used in Thai, Malay and Indonesian cooking to add flavour to ordinary (bland) rice and to enhance the flavour of rice dishes, including those cooked in coconut milk, such as nasi lemak and nasi kuning.2 In Indonesia, rice is steamed in small baskets woven from pandan leaves. The leaves are raked with a fork or lightly crushed to release the flavour.2 One of the most famous Thai dishes is pandan chicken or gai ob bai toey – marinated pieces of chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and deep-fried in a wok2 (in the same way as lotus leaves are used in China). Pandan is also an important flavour source for sweet snacks, desserts, iced drinks and delicious puddings, made with ice cream and/or coconut milk, glutinous rice and palm sugar as main ingredients.2 The cooked glutinous rice mixture is poured into baskets made from folded pandan leaves, where it solidifies and becomes jelly-like on cooling. Pandan essence (known as pandan or toey) is often available in shops and at markets as a substitute for the leaves. Green food dye is added to give a bright green colour. When not available, it is possible to substitute pandan essence with vanilla essence but the flavour is of course quite different.

FLAVOUR COMPOUNDS Pandan is used to flavour rice because it contains the same flavour compound (2-acetyl-1-pyrroline) present in expensive types of scented rice such as jasmine or basmati rice. The aroma of this compound, also known as 2-AP, is described as nutty or popcorn-like. The concentration in pandan leaves was reported to be 10.3 mg/kg.4 In the same study, the level of 2-AP in a Thai fragrant rice cultivar was determined to be 3.0 mg/kg.4

NOTES Pandanus amaryllifolius is the species with fragrant leaves, while another species, P. tectorius, has fragrant flowers.

1. Mabberley, D.J. 2008. Mabberley’s plant-book (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

2. Hutton, W. 1997. Tropical herbs and spices. Periplus Editions, Singapore.

3. Buttery, R.G., Juliano, B.O., Ling, L.C. 1982. Identification of rice aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline in pandan leaves. Chemistry and Industry (London) 23: 478.

4. Wongpornchai, S., Sriseadka, T., Choonvisase, S. 2003. Identification and quantitation of the rice aroma compound, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, in bread flowers (Vallaris glabra Ktze). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51: 457−462.