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Pandan leaves, known also as Pandanus latifolious, P. Amaryllifolius, screwpine pandanus or simply screwpine leaves, are available in Asian markets. They thrive very well in tropical climates and are found aplenty in the wild as well as on rural farms in Asian countries.

The leaves are used in cooking to flavor or color food green. The leaves are often pounded and the juice squeezed out of them for flavoring or a natural food dye. Most of the time, they are just carefully washed, bundled and thrown into large pots of savory curry and other dishes or hot sweet desserts.

Because the leaves are of long, sturdy and parallel fibres, they do not disintegrate under strong heat and can easily be removed once the cooking is done. As the leaves are used in cooking, they prove harmless and environment-friendly, so they are safe to use in any part of the house.

Pandan leaves exude a strong scent - due to the highly volatile juice. This volatile juice contains a substance which is said to irritate the roaches' respiratory or nervous system, hence its effectiveness for keeping them at bay. It is not surprising to find the cabinet in which a bundle of a few leaves have been deposited clear of spiders, ants and other insects as well as our dear roaches!

You can get a small bundle for easily less than $1.50 and use them for more than a year! If a Thai mart is near you, ask for bai toey'. If having a bundle of leaves lying around is not your cup of tea, weave the leaves into small baskets or plates and use them as part of the house dcor. Your craftwork will not go to waste as the dried version is nicely browned. Once the smell has completely vanished, varnish or lacquer the dried craft and you have containers that last for life!

You may also want to grow your own plant. Cut a branch or two off the screwpine tree and push it into well-watered soil. Put a small pot or two in the kitchen or where roaches are often spotted. The lush green leaves will surely brighten the place up and keep roaches away while keeping the place looking exotically enhanced.

I will let you in on a dirty little secret. I have lived in the same messy two-bedroom flat for the past eight years. After I learned of the power of pandan leaves as a deterrent to roaches, from a taxi driver, about seven years ago, my flat has been free from roaches. Even though the last of the roaches migrated from the kitchen sink cabinet to the unused toilet opposite the cabinet, their disintegrating corpses were found a few months later. They had not survived the invasion of the pandan leaves. Even when I added twenty-three years of mess to my living room which I moved from my workplace two months ago, the roaches dared not intrude. I have only started packing as I want to set a good and clean example for my son to follow and before he starts calling me a human roach!

I have since stopped using chemicals and poisons. Good old cheap and sometimes free Pandan leaves are here to stay!

Learn more about this author, Lokemun Magar.
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