Identify culinary pandan and choose leaves, extract or flavoring

The short answer

Culinary pandan is the long, narrow, fragrant leaf of Pandanus amaryllifolius. In Thai it is called bai toey (also written bai dteuy or dteuy hom). Cooks use it to perfume coconut desserts, syrups, rice and drinking water, to tint food green with juice pressed from the leaf, and as a wrapper or folded container. Choose by what the recipe needs. If the leaf wraps or holds food, you need physical leaves. For infusing, fresh leaves are best and frozen leaves come next. Dried leaves are a last resort. A bottled essence gives flavor in a few drops but is a different product from fresh leaf juice, and its green color, if any, is a separate matter.

How to recognize culinary pandan

Singapore's National Parks Board identifies fragrant culinary pandan as Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb., in the family Pandanaceae. If a nursery tag, seed listing or produce label gives a botanical name, this is the one to look for. The traits below describe this species specifically.

• Shape: linear leaves, long and strap-like with parallel sides
• Surface: slightly pleated along the length
• Edges: entire, meaning smooth with no teeth or serrations
• Arrangement on the plant: spiral, fanning out from a central point
• Size on the shrub form: roughly 25–75 cm long (about 10–30 inches) and 2–5 cm wide (about 0.8–2 inches)
• Aroma: the reason it is cooked with; the leaf is valued for fragrance

Names vary by language and spelling. In Thai cooking you will see bai toey, bai dteuy and dteuy hom; bai means leaf, and hom means fragrant. English sources say pandan, pandan leaf or pandanus leaf. On a menu or recipe, any of these points to the same culinary leaf.

Where pandan shows up and where to shop for it

Pandan is closely tied to Thai cooking and is also a staple of Nyonya (Peranakan) cooking in the Malay world. In Thai kitchens it appears in coconut-based sweets, sweet syrups, scented rice and flavored drinking water. It is also used as a wrapper, as in Thai chicken wrapped in pandan leaves, and folded into small cups that hold desserts.

In the US, the places to look are Thai and broader Southeast Asian grocery stores, which may carry fresh, frozen or dried leaves and bottled pandan essence. Stock varies from store to store, so treat these as the right kinds of shops rather than a guarantee that a particular form will be on the shelf.

Leaves, extract or bottled flavoring: which form fits your recipe

Form	What it provides	Best fit	Notes
Fresh leaves	Aroma, physical wrapper or container, juice for natural green color	Wrapping, folding into cups, infusing, pressing for juice	The default choice; remove whole leaves before serving
Frozen leaves	Aroma for infusion	Infusing coconut milk, syrups, rice	Kasma of Thai Food & Travel recommends frozen leaves when fresh are unavailable
Dried cut leaves	Weaker aroma	Infusion only, when nothing else is available	Kasma lists these as a last choice; Nyonya Cooking rehydrates them in hot water first
Homemade frozen extract cubes	Fragrance and green color from leaf juice	Recipes calling for pandan juice or extract	Nyonya Cooking reports aroma lasting about three months frozen
Bottled pandan essence	Concentrated flavor in a few drops	Recipes written for essence, or when leaves cannot be found	A separate product from fresh juice; artificial green coloring is a separate added choice

Keep two distinctions in mind. First, only a physical leaf can serve as a wrapper or container, so no extract or essence can stand in for that job. Second, the green color in traditional desserts comes from fresh leaf juice. A bottled essence supplies flavor, and if you want the color too, adding artificial coloring is its own decision.

Kasma suggests a few drops of bottled essence as a fallback, but there is no standard conversion between leaves and essence. When a recipe gives an amount for a specific form, follow it rather than estimating a swap.

Illustrative example of a choice sheet. Before shopping, mark which job pandan does in the recipe: wrapper, infusion, extracted color or bottled flavoring. If it is a wrapper, buy physical leaves. For any other job, write down the form and quantity the recipe specifies, check the ingredients on any product you are considering, and use a conversion only if the recipe itself provides one.

Is there a pandan leaf substitute?

The practical alternatives are other forms of pandan, not another plant. In order of preference: frozen leaves, then dried cut leaves, or a few drops of bottled essence. For wrapped dishes and folded dessert cups, none of these replace a whole leaf.

How to prepare and use pandan leaves

Nyonya Cooking's preparation starts by washing the leaves and trimming any brown or dry edges. The pale white portion at the base is removed because it is bitter. The leaves are then tied into a knot, which bruises them so they release more aroma during infusion.

For an infusion, Kasma simmers two or three whole leaves in about two cups of coconut milk for 10 to 15 minutes. The leaves are then squeezed to press out their flavor and discarded. The same approach of steeping whole leaves and removing them works for syrups, rice and drinking water. Whole leaves are not eaten, so take them out before serving.

For color, use juice pressed from fresh leaves. For wrapping, the leaf encloses the food during cooking and is removed at the table. Folded leaves can also be shaped into small containers for desserts.

How to store pandan leaves

Nyonya Cooking's refrigerator method is to wash the leaves and dry them thoroughly. Then wrap them in paper towels and place them in an airtight container in the fridge. The site gives a freshness window of up to two weeks.

How to freeze pandan leaves and extract

• Leaves: knot the cleaned leaves, place them in a container and freeze. Nyonya Cooking reports that the aroma fades after about six months.
• Extract: pour pandan extract into molds and freeze. Move the frozen cubes to an airtight container. Nyonya Cooking gives about three months for good aroma.
• Dried leaves: these are a shelf-stable fallback rather than a frozen one; rehydrate them in hot water before use.