Pandan

Pandan leaves come from the Screwpine tree, which can be found throughout the tropics.


(This is actually not my picture. Even though, as it turns out, I have seen this tree all over Indonesia, it took me a long time to put together the fact that this tree was the source of the bright green foods!)

Pandan leaves are often used as flavouring and colouring in cooking in Indonesia (and apparently the rest of Asia and the Pacific as well), much as we use Vanilla. The most popular pandan specialty is the grass-green Pandan cake, which the first time I saw, I honestly thought must contain heaps of artificial colouring... but no! Pandan really produces that colour naturally! The sweet unique flavour is also used in rice and flavouring curries.

You can even get it now in packaged cake mixes!




The Screwpine tree is also said to have medicinal properties, and its uses include the tree bark as a diuretic, the roots used for their anti-diabetic properties, and the leaves are used for treating dermatological diseases.

And of course, true to the tropics, the whole tree has a use... in ancient times the leaves were also used for making grass skirts and thatching for roofs as well as woven baskets. The flower was used to make perfume as well as desserts and sweets.