BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER

This plant will transform a colour-changing mood ring with a squeeze of lemon.

When it gets down to the colour-changing power of the butterfly pea flower, acid is the way of the world. This plant turns hot water — with a pH between 4 and 8—to shades of blue, ranging from deep cobalt to mesmerizing azure. One more squirt of citric acid and the water changes once more, this time to a vibrant magenta.

Whether you steep these delicate buds in tea or grind them in a powder and mix them with neutral-pH foods, the result will be a stunning blue dye. With a mild herbal taste similar to black tea — without caffeine — butterfly pea is mild in taste, despite its visual shock factor. 

Southeast Asians have been using this flower, also known as "Asian pigeonwings," in traditional medicine for centuries. Traditional Ayurveda practitioners prescribe pea butterfly flowers for the treatment of digestive, respiratory, reproductive, and nervous system conditions. Like many richly pigmented plants, butterfly pea is also linked to cancer control.

In Thailand, the attractive blue of butterfly pea appears across a wide range of dishes and drinks. Hosts at hotels and spas often welcome guests with blue tea and honey and lemon. Called dok anchan, this hot or iced beverage surprises and enchants visitors who discover the color-changing properties of tea by adding citrus. Other blue-tinted treats include flower-shaped steamed dumplings and pulut inti, a coconut-covered sweet sticky rice dish. Malaysians are making a tasty, similarly, cosmic-looking rice called kuih ketan.

Recently, the butterfly pea flower has attracted the attention of craft-cocktail lovers. Inspired bartenders have invented drinks that highlight the dynamic range of colors of the flower. With names like "Galaxy Magic," "Disco Sour" and "Mood Ring," it's not hard to guess why the new wave cocktail scene loves this ancient, medicinal flower. Whether it's a drink, a dessert, a dumpling, or a prescription, there's no denying the magnetic drawing of such a mythical blue glow.

Butterfly pea flower is manifest in dishes throughout South East Asia. It's also sold online in tea blends, powder form, and as a "cocktail dye."

Author: Shobana Manokaran