Blue Butterfly Pea, Clitoria ternatea, Kittelbloem.
In South East Asia and particularly in Thailand the Blue Butterfly Pea Flower is used as a natural coloring for food, to cook a beautiful blue rice and pasta or to create a Blue tea or a super trendy blue cocktail.
Blue Butterfly Pea Tea:
A new dimension in your High Tea Party.
Add three or four flowers to a glass of boiled water or other beverage for a pretty blue color. As Tea it tastes a bit to black tea and has a lovely soft woody and earthy flavor. Brew the Tea for 10 to 15 minutes.
It’s of course, very nice to have a blue tea to serve, but also think of a blue long drink, Blue rice or pasta!
When you blend the Blue Tea with something sour (e.g. lime or lemon) than it turns purple. For an extra special effect, you can create ice cubes in 2 colors and add to a (non-alcoholic) cocktail or vodka. With this you make the show with a funky blue and/or purple cocktail.
Blue Rise :
Bring 1 liter water to the boil with 10 – 12 flowers (or a teaspoon powder), when the water is nice dark blue add the white rice to it and cook the rice until it is done. Save the cooking liquid ( it’s rich in nutritional elements) for future use, for example to make a sauce.
A summer party on your plate. Basmati rice cooked with a teaspoon Kittel Flower powder.
Blue Marble Egg
use the basic infusion below for the Blue cocktail drink and boil the Eggs for 4 minutes in it, after this time carefully bruise the egg shell with a spoon so that smal cracks occur. then boil the eggs further for 2 – 3 minutes and leave the eggs in the blue infusion water for 15 minutes.
Blue Cocktail :
needed:: 1 liter basic Blue Butterfly Pea InfusionHow to make: boil for a few minutes 1 liter water with 10 – 15 flowers and let is cool down, you can remove the flowers when the water is beautiful deep blue of colour. This blue liquid we have now is an ideal basic for making Cocktails, Longdrink mix or to make Blue Ice cubes. Keep in a refrigerator.
Recipes and ideas:
Ice Latte Milk – Butterfly Pea
fill a chilled glass with 2/3 Latte Milk or coconut milk and bring to your taste with honey or cinnamon, fill the glass with Ice cubes just so that you can add very carefully the blue basic Butterfly pea infusion on top .
The most beautiful effect is, of course, if you have blue ice cubes made in advance.
Butterfly Pea – Orange or Lemon juice mix:
Pour 1/3 orange or lemon juice in a glass and fill it up with 1/3 ice cubes, now carefully pour the cooled blue basic Butterfly pea infusion over the ice cubes. And see the magic happen ! A surprising effect will arise depending on the pH value.
Butterfly Pea – Watermelon Mix
Glass of watermelon juice mixed soda and Butterfly pea juice. beautiful red and purple juice color. Summer drink !!
Blue Gin tonic :
Add 5 Butterfly pea / Kittel-flowers to your favorites Gin and let this steep for 5-minute, then add the tonic and see the color change. Do you like to drink your Gin pure without tonic then add some blue ice cubes and enjoy the magic.
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Learn more about Clitoria ternatea : see Science or visit the: foto-gallery