Alternate names: Pandanus, screw pine
Description: Small, shrubby plant. Pandan is a member of the very large
screw pine family.
Cultivation: Grown primarily in Sri Lanka and parts of India.
Culinary: Pandan leaf is used in flavoring sweet desserts and rice
dishes in Southeast Asian cuisines. The leaf is wilted before use—dried,
it does not retain its flavor and fresh leaves do not have sufficient
concentrations of flavors. Wilting concentrates the flavoring components
so that it can be imparted to the food. The flavor is often reminiscent
of expensive varieties of jasmine rice, and often, lesser grades of rice
are cooked with pandan to simulate the jasmine rice. In Thailand, the
leaves are often used as flavorful wrappers for morsels of food - though
the leaves themselves are too tough for eating.
Other uses: Pandan is often distilled into an essence that is used as a
flavoring and coloring —often dyed an intense green
Similar plants: Pandanus odoratissimus, used primarily for fiber
products and for kewda attar in perfumery.
Sources: The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses. By Deni Bown.
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Pand_ama.html