Pandan (Bai Toey): Aromatic Leaf in Thai Cooking

Pandanus is indigenous to the Indo-Pacific — growing across Thailand, Southeast Asia, coastal India, and the Pacific Islands. It is completely unavailable as a substitute in any other ingredient (vanilla extract is commonly suggested as a pandan substitute; it shares none of pandan's aromatic chemistry and the suggestion misunderstands the nature of both ingredients). Fresh pandan leaves are increasingly available in Asian grocery stores in North America.

Pandanus amaryllifolius — the pandan leaf (bai toey in Thai) — is the most widely used aromatic leaf in Southeast Asian desserts and savoury cooking. Its characteristic aroma compound (2-acetyl-1-pyrroline) is the same compound found in jasmine rice, basmati rice, and toasted bread crust — producing a warm, slightly floral, slightly nutty aromatic that the Thai kitchen uses as: a natural green colouring agent (from the chlorophyll of the blended leaves), a flavour infusion for coconut milk and sugar syrup, and a vessel for steaming and grilling (food wrapped in pandan leaf takes on its aromatic during cooking).

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