Magical Nam Dok Anchan (Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade) #ThaiOneOn

I have read about the butterfly pea flower...and how you can use it as a natural food coloring. Then I read about its "magical" color shifting properties. Then I realized that it's common all over Thailand and Burma, so I put it on my Thai One On menu for Pia's birthday dinner.

Like hydrangeas whose blooms turn different colors depending on the pH of the soil they're in, the color of butterfly pea flower tea changes depending on the pH with whatever it's combined. It’s magical!

Before I served it, I wanted to make sure it actually worked. So, the Precise Kitchen Elf did a test run.

Ingredients

3 C water
1/2 C dried butterfly pea flowers*
2 C organic granulated sugar
freshly squeezed lemon juice
sparkling water
ice cubes for serving

Procedures
Bring water to a bowl in a small saucepan. Stir in the dried flowers and let steep until the water is a very deep blue color. The longer you let it steep, the better. I let mine stand for, at least, an hour. Strain out the blossoms and pour the liquid back into the saucepan.

Add in the granulated sugar. Heat and swirl the pan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour into a mason jar and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

To serve, add syrup to a serving glass. Pour in lemon juice a little bit at a time until you get the color that you want. Add in ice and top with sparkling water.

The kids had a good time making their magical nam dok anchan...

Even the birthday girl whipped up a glass of her own.

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

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