The fragrant young leaves are cooked and eaten [301 ]. They are also often used, both fresh or dried, to flavour rice, cassava etc., especially in sweet dishes [296, 301 ]. Juice extracted from leaves is used to add fragrance to various types of teas and desserts. Desserts include cakes and kueh. The aromatic leaves give a garlic-like flavour to food [238 ]. Delicious, they add a distinctive musky odour and a natural green colour [296, 301 ]. The chlorophyll pigments in the leaves will colour foods green. The leaves are also used to wrap other foods, such as rice dumplings [301 ]. The leaves are not consumed but are removed from the dish before serving. In Indonesia, rice is sometimes steamed in baskets made of the leaves. Thai people wrap the leaves around pieces of seasoned chicken and then fry them. In Southeast Asia, the leaves are often used to make small boxes or containers that can hold pudding or jellies. Although no specific records have yet been seen for this species, most members of this genus have more or less edible fruits, seeds and inner leaf bases [193 ]. The cylindrical fruit is a syncarp made up of several individual drupes [193 ]. Individual drupes are hard, woody wedges - each containing a few slender seeds [193 ]. Each wedge has a fleshy base imbued with a sweet-smelling, orange pulp that, in many species, has a delicious flavour[193 ]. This pulp needs to be cooked to destroy a harmful substance [193 ]. The seed often has a delicious nutty flavour when eaten raw or cooked, though it is fiddly to extract [193 ]. Seeds contain 44 - 50% fat and 20 - 34% protein [193 ]. The inner base of young leaves - raw [193 ].

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The leaves are diuretic and cardiotonic [317 ]. An infusion is used as a sedative against restlessness and is also a traditional treatment for diabetes [310 ]. Externally, the leaves are used in the treatment of skin diseases; as a relaxing soak to counter restlessness [310, 317 ]. They are soaked in coconut oil; the oil is then employed as an embrocation for rheumatic troubles [310 ]. Three piperidine alkaloids have been isolated and identified from the leaves of fragrant pandan. The application of the leaves as an antidiabetic drug seems linked to 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, which has been isolated from Pandanus amaryllifolius roots [310 ]. It shows hypoglycaemic effects and increases serum insulin levels and liver glycogen content [310 ].

The aromatic leaves are used for perfume [317 ]. In Thailand, cab drivers use pandan leaves as a natural air freshener. Freshly chopped leaves are mixed with the petals of various flowers to make potpourris [317 ]. It has been speculated that the scent in fragrant pandan leaves is not an essential oil but a volatile product of oxidative degradation of a yellow carotenoid pigment [310 ]. The leaves do, however, yield a tiny amount of essential oil [310 ]. The leaves can be woven into small baskets [310 ]. They are used to make containers for desserts [317 ]. The leaves are used to make mats for sleeping on [454 ]. An extract of the leaves is used as an ingredient in commercial cosmetic preparations as a deodorant and masking agent [1243 ]. The essential oil has insect-repellent activity, for instance, against the ordinary cockroach, Periplaneta americana [310 ]. Pandan leaves, and the extract is used as food preservatives due to their antibacterial and antifungal properties (particularly against mould). Bottled pandan extract is available in shops and often contains green food colouring. The powdered leaves may be used as a repellent against Callosobruchus chinensis infestation of mung-bean seeds [310 ].

Special Uses