Blue Butterfly Pea Flowers

Blue Butterfly Pea Flowers

The butterfly pea flower, plucked from the vine of the Clitoria ternatea plant (also known as Asian pigeonwings) is a stunning wildflower in the Pea family (Fabaceae). It is called butterfly pea because it is a plant in the pea family, but surprisingly, it is not frequented by butterflies. Rather, the expanded banner looks like a butterfly. This is a large wildflower with one to three showy purple flowers that are up to two inches long.

The butterfly pea flower is rich in many antioxidants and it is especially rich in anthocyanin, an antioxidant responsible for it's colour wizardry. Butterfly pea flowers are traditionally used in Thai and Malaysian cuisines to lend their deep blue colour to sticky rice desserts and puddings. Aside from their distinctive blue hue and magical colour-changing properties, butterfly pea flowers offer a few nutritional benefits. The flowers are praised for their calming and memory-boosting effects, skin and hair health as well as many other health benefits.

Butterfly pea flowers can be enjoyed as an herbal tea, incorporated into sweets and puddings, used as the base for bright-blue beverages, cocktails or even frozen into ice cubes for colour-changing lemonade.
To make butterfly pea flower tea simply add 1 teaspoon of dried flowers to a cup and fill it with hot water. Let the tea steep for 10–15 minutes before straining out the dried flowers. Enjoy hot or served over ice.

You can add a bit of lemon juice, lime juice, or honey to ramp up the flavor. The acidity of citrus fruits will turn the drink deep purple. Buttefly peas mixed with hibiscus will also have a similar effect.

Ingredients

Butterfly Pea Flowers

Specifications