Color-Changing Nam Dok Anchan (Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade) #SundayFunday

 

Today the Sunday Funday group is sharing mocktail recipes. Thanks to Stacy of Food Lust People Love, Sue of Palatable Pastime, Rebekah of Making Miracles, and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for coordinating this low-stress group. 

This week, with Wendy is hosting; we're sharing recipes for alcohol-free cocktails. Here's today's line-up...

• Amaretto Sour Mocktail by Food Lust People Love
• Baby Yoda Soda from Amy's Cooking Adventures 
• Blackberry Virgin Mojito by Making Miracles
• Color-Changing Nam Dok Anchan (Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Frozen Strawberry Margarita Mocktail  by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Non Alchoholic Spiced Sangria by Sneha's Recipe
• Virgin Margarita from Palatable Pastime

Color-Changing Nam Dok Anchan

Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade

After using the butterfly pea flower powder as a natural coloring in my Naturally Blue Birthday Cake a couple of years ago, I always keep both the powder and the blossoms in my kitchen. It's such a vibrant color and you can't beat its "magical" color shifting properties. I named this mocktail after a traditional Thai lemonade - Nam Dok Anchan - as the flower is often used in Thailand to make a refreshing summer drink.

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!

You can see the glass on the right is a deep blue. Once you add acid - in this case in the form of freshly squeezed lemon juice - it changes to purple.

Ingredients

• 3 cups water + 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dried butterfly pea flowers
• 2 cups organic granulated sugar
• organic lemon wedges
• Also needed: ice, lemon wheels for serving

Procedure

Bring 3 cups water to a boil 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 and 2 cups more water. 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, place ice in serving glasses. Pour the tisane over the ice.

Squeeze in lemon juice a little bit at a time until you get the color that you want. 

Stir...

And enjoy your beautiful, color-changing butterfly pea flower lemonade.

I will also sneak in a link to an alcoholic libation that uses blue butterfly pea flower powder because blue foods and drinks seems magical without the color-changing capabilities, right? I shared this Blue Moon Matcha Cocktail for our online #LitHappens in October 2019. So much fun.

That's a wrap for the #SundayFunday mocktails event. 

We'll be back next week with ice cream recipes. Stay tuned. Cheers!