[2][3][4] The characteristic aroma of pandan is caused by the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, found in the lower epidermal papillae;[5] the compound gives white bread, jasmine rice, and basmati rice (as well as bread flowers Vallaris glabra) their typical smell.

It is an upright, green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, blade-like leaves and woody aerial roots.

The green juice acquired from its leaf is used extensively in Malaysian cuisine, Indonesian cuisine, and Philippine cuisine as green food colouring and flavouring agents that give a pleasant aroma to traditional cakes such as kue and kakanin; including klepon, kue putu, dadar gulung, lapis legit, pandan cake, buko pandan salad, and buko pandan cake.

The tied knot of bruised pandan leaf is also added into fragrant coconut rice to enhance the aroma.

The leaves are used either fresh or dried, and are commercially available in frozen form in Asian grocery stores of nations where the plant does not grow.

They have a nutty, botanical fragrance that is used as a flavor enhancer in many Asian cuisines, especially in rice dishes, desserts, and cakes.

[16] In October 2017, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson predicted that pandan would displace popular matcha and avocado toast.

[17] While the plant’s visibility on social networks, especially in the United Kingdom, increased in 2017, there was also pushback against reports that described Lawson as "discovering" a "new" ingredient, as pandan has been widely used in Asia for a long time.