By Timo Torner/ Last updated on December 4, 2023
Butterfly pea flower syrup is a brilliant way to add color and a little magic to your mixed drinks. The dark blue floral syrup reacts with acidic elements, which turn the deep blue liquid into a bright pink.
Color-changing co*cktails have been taking over social media by storm. Seeing a dark blue colored co*cktail turning bright pink doesn't cease to fascinate people. This Butterfly pea simple syrup is dark blue in its natural color and sweet and slightly floral in taste. It's an excellent way to sweeten and color co*cktails or non-alcoholic drinks like soda water or citrus juices. Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe Prep Time: 2 minutes minutes Shaking timeShaking Time: 10 minutes minutes Resting time: 25 minutes minutes Course: Drinks Keyword: Butterfly Pea Add water to a pot and turn on medium heat and bring it to a boil. 1 cup Water Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved completely. 1 cup White granulated sugar Add flowers and turn off the heat and let the flowers infuse and cool down. 10 - 15 pcs Dried butterfly pea flowers Pour the cooled-down syrup into a jar or syrup bottle and filter out any residue of the flowers with the help of a fine-mesh strainer or, even better, with a tea filter bag. Keep the syrup refrigerated until you want to use it. Enjoy your homemade color-changing drinks. Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was! To make this colorful simple syrup, you only need two ingredients. One of them can be a little bit pricey, though: The scientifically correct name for the butterfly pea iscl*toria ternatea. Its origin is in Asia, where it is also known as Asian pigeonwings or blue peas. Over the years, the name butterfly pea became more common as it surely is the most catchy one. In Southeast Asia, butterfly pea has been used for brewing tea and as a natural food coloring for a long time. In India, it is even considered a holy flower. Hindi often use itfor offeringsto an image of a god, the so-called puja rituals. Besides being a mood enhancer, the butterfly pea flower provides several other health benefits. For instance, stress relief, lower anxiety, reduced fatigue, and raised energy levels. [1] Due to its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, Spas and massage parlors often serve tea from the blue flower after a treatment. Butterfly pea flower simple syrup is often used in tea or syrup. It has a very subtle yet earthy flavor with wooden notes, similar to green teas. Overall, it's relatively neutral and won't affect the taste of your drink overly much. The color-changing effect of Butterfly pea flower syrup is caused by changing the pH. By adding acidic ingredients, like citrus juice, to co*cktails, lemonade, to tea made with butterfly peas, they will change their color from dark blue to pink. But you can also achieve other shades. Depending on the pH, the color can range from pink, violet, blue, and green to yellow. [2] For those interested in chemistry, the blue color indicates a pH of 7. By increasing the acidic level, the color will turn to violet at pH 4, and ultimately pink at pH 1. If you do not increase the acidity but create o more alkaline solutions, the color can turn green at pH 8 and yellow at pH 11. You won't see butterfly pea drinks in green or yellow because the necessary alkaline solutions are almost impossible to achieve with edible ingredients. In co*cktails, you can use it as an alternative to simple syrup. That won't affect the overall flavor of your drink, but it will add an interesting color effect to it. Used in an acidic drink like a Gin Sour co*cktail, it turns bright pink. If you use it to sweeten an Old Fashioned, the tint will remain dark blue to purple due to the lack of acid. In Northern Thailand, they have a traditional recipe called Nam Dok Anchan: butterfly pea flower tea mixed with honey and (usually) a lemon on the side. [3] What does butterfly pea syrup taste like? Butterfly pea simple syrup has a very subtle yet earthy flavor with wooden notes, similar to green teas and matcha without bitter notes. What is the butterfly pea flower used for? Butterfly pea flower is often used in tea or in mixed drinks. It's either infused into a base or used in form of simple syrup. How long will homemade butterfly pea syrup keep? Stored in the fridge, your butterfly pea syrup will last two to three weeks. If you want to extend that to a couple of month, add a splash of vodka before bottling it.
Butterfly Pea Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
About the Ingredients
What is Butterfly Pea Flower?
Health benefits
How does it taste?
Why does it change color?
Butterfly Pea syrup in drinks
More floral syrups
Frequently asked questions
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