Pandan

Pandan is a tropical shrub of the screw-pine family, Pandanaceae. It grows as a dense clump of long, narrow, glossy leaves that spiral out from a short stem — the spiral that gives screw pines their name. A mature plant stands about 1.2–1.5 m tall, with leaves up to around 80 cm long.

Of all the Pandanus species, it is the only one with fragrant leaves.

It almost never flowers: botanists know of a single flowering specimen, a male one, and female flowers have never been described. Pandan has never been found in the wild. It is grown from suckers and cuttings, passed on by people.

Pandan has no written origin story. It is a plant that travelled with people, and its history lives in gardens and kitchens — and, since the 1980s, in food science.

1. Before written records

   Carried by people

   Pandan most likely comes from the Moluccas, the Spice Islands of eastern Indonesia, and spread across Southeast and South Asia as people carried suckers and cuttings from place to place.

2. Centuries ago

   A Thai kitchen staple

   Thai food writers trace pandan in Thai cooking back to the Ayutthaya kingdom (1351–1767), although no written record of its arrival survives. Its leaves scented rice, sweets and cool drinks.

3. 1832

   Named by a botanist

   The Scottish botanist William Roxburgh published the name Pandanus amaryllifolius — “with leaves like an amaryllis” — in his Flora Indica, describing a plant from Ambon in the Moluccas.

4. 1972 – 1981

   Pandan in the city

   In Singapore, pandan chiffon cake first appeared in the press in 1972, and pandan chicken arrived in 1981 with a Thai food festival.

5. 1983

   Science finds the scent

   Food scientists identified 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline in pandan leaves — the same aroma compound that gives fragrant rice its scent. Ten years later, a study in Thailand confirmed the match with Thai jasmine rice.

Across Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, pandan plays much the part that vanilla plays in European baking: the familiar sweet note in cakes, custards and drinks. Its natural partners are coconut, palm sugar and rice.

In Thailand it colours and scents khanom chan and many other traditional sweets, flavours nam bai toei and wraps chicken for gai hor bai toei. In Malaysia and Singapore it scents nasi lemak and kaya, the coconut and egg jam, and gives pandan chiffon cake its green.

Pandan loves water and soft shade. In Thailand it grows along ditches and ponds, and on farms it is planted in wet beds where water flows around the plants all year. Much like the tea bushes grown for matcha, it is often grown under shade netting, which softens the strong tropical sun.

1. Planting

   Into wet soil

   Suckers and cuttings from older plants are planted straight into the wet beds.

2. 6 – 7 months

   First harvest

   The first leaves are ready to cut six to seven months after planting. After that, leaves are cut again every month.

3. Leaf by leaf

   Choosing the leaf

   Aroma changes with leaf age. In a study from Hainan, China, the rice-like 2AP was highest in the youngest leaves and fell as they aged, while other aroma compounds built up. The best balance lay at about the eighth leaf, counting from the youngest.

4. After cutting

   Drying

   Drying removes around 80 % of the leaf’s water. Fresh leaves carry the most aroma, but in a second Hainan study 2AP remained the main aroma compound in leaves sun-dried for seven days at about 25 °C.

What to look for

• A fresh, even green, not brown or yellow
• A clear smell of jasmine rice or popcorn when you open the pouch
• Clean-cut pieces; pale cut edges and paler leaf bases are natural
• Dry, crisp pieces that snap rather than bend
• No musty or damp smell, no dark spots or mould
• Powder: a bright, even green and a soft, fine texture

How our pandan is dried

Most dried pandan is dried in the sun — it is quicker, and fast drying keeps mould away. Our partner farm in Thailand does it differently: it picks leaves of medium age from slow-growing plants and dries them in the shade, out of direct sun. Drying takes longer, but the leaf keeps more of its aroma and its fresh green colour.

Pandan’s scent comes from a mix of volatile compounds — molecules light enough to travel through the air to your nose. One stands above the rest: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, or 2AP, the molecule behind the scent of Thai jasmine rice, popcorn and bread crust. Around it sit green, floral and fruity notes that make pandan more than “rice in a leaf”. In one analysis, researchers found 93 volatile compounds in pandan leaves, 43 of them above the level people can smell.

Why pandan and jasmine rice smell alike

1. One molecule: In 1983 scientists found 2AP in pandan leaves. It is the same compound that gives Thai jasmine rice, Khao Dawk Mali 105, what researchers call its “pandan-like” aroma.
2. More in the leaf: Published figures put 2AP in pandan leaves at around 1 part per million — roughly ten times the level in aromatic rice.
3. From leaf to rice: Cooked together, pandan passes its 2AP to the rice. In one experiment, the rice’s 2AP rose about threefold in the first 15 minutes of cooking, then began to fall.

Pandan is sometimes called the vanilla of the East — a nickname for the role it plays in sweets, not its chemistry: its key aroma is 2AP, not vanillin. In the cup, dried pandan is softer than fresh leaves: rice and green leaf with a rounded, vanilla-like sweetness, though nothing sweet is added. Our own tasting note.

Jasmine rice

First on the nose

Warm popcorn

Toasty and sweet

Green leaf

A fresh, grassy lift

Vanilla-like

A soft, rounded finish

Ways to use it

• Hot tea and herbal blends
• Iced drinks, including nam bai toei
• Fragrant rice dishes
• Cakes and pancakes
• Custards and ice cream
• Smoothies and lattes

Pandan Leaf Tea — 25 g to 200 g ↗

Pandan tea, rice and kitchen ideas in the Journal →

Character notes are general culinary descriptions, not measurements.

Using the powder

Pandan powder is the whole leaf, finely ground. It appears in cakes, creams, ice cream, smoothies and lattes, contributing green colour and the leaf’s characteristic aroma.

Pandan is first of all a flavour, but it also has a place in folk medicine and in research.

Traditional use

In Thai folk tradition, the leaf was used to cool “inner heat”, quench thirst, “nourish the heart” and promote urination, and pandan water was drunk against tiredness. Remedies for diabetes used mainly the root. In Malaysia and Singapore, a leaf infusion was taken as a calming drink, and leaves in coconut oil made a rub for rheumatism. These are traditional uses, not proven treatments.

In the laboratory

In animal studies, extracts of pandan root and leaf have been tested for effects on blood sugar and, in one small study in mice, on how quickly the animals fell asleep. These studies use concentrated extracts, not a cup of tea, and do not show what drinking pandan does in people.

Educational product information. Not medical advice.