Blue Spirulina and Butterfly Pea Flower Powders – glamorous blue food without any additives
Glamorous blue smoothie bowls, lattes and pancakes can be stars on social media, but their attractiveness is not just visual. The stars behind the striking blue color are Blue Spirulina and Butterfly Pea Flower. They dont just color your food, they are also exceptionally good for health. Before you start adding them to your foods, let’s take a closer look at them, from nutritional value to taste and more.
Blue Spirulina Powder – a nutrient bomb
This is a substance isolated from green algae growing in lakes, springs and ponds. Phycocyanin – a rare substance that has excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Blue spirulina powder does not have tge fishy taste like green spirulina, but it has great health benefits. It has many worthy properties – it helps the body to acquire all the good nutrients and remove what is not needed. Blue spirulina is rich in antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and nutrients, including vitamin K and iron.
Blue spirulina is one of the few proteins that contains 18 of the 20 amino acids. The omega-3 fatty acid content of blue spirulina is second only to that of breast milk.
Containing as much protein as an egg, more calcium than milk and more beta-carotene than carrots, it has earned the title of superfood
Blue spirulina gives food a boost
The blue Spirulina powder has such a bright blue color that you can easily turn your smoothie, raw dessert, bars or energy balls vibrant blue with half a teaspoon. The possibilities are simply endless.
You can mix the blue spirulina powder with yellow fruits (such as mango) to get a green color, but you can also mix them with pink or red colors (such as red dragon fruit powder or berries) to get a lavender or purple hue.
Blue spirulina is heat sensitive. This means that it can be cooked on very low heat. When is is used in cakes and pastries on high heat, the blue color may fade during cooking.
Butterfly Pea Flower Powder – a plant used in Chinese medicine and Ayurveda
Butterfly Pea is a beautiful flower growing in tropical climates. To make the powder, the flowers are picked by hand, dried and then milled into powder.
Butterfly Pea Flower gives such a beautiful color that it could be expected to be a fruity taste, but in fact the taste is more similar to the light version of green tea and is quite neutral. Lemon juice and honey can be added to brighten and sweeten the taste, as well as ginger, mint, lemongrass and cinnamon.
Butterfly Pea can improve concentration. It has a calming effect on the body, reducing stress and anxiety.
It is rich in natural antioxidants, Butterfly Pea powder improves blood circulation and eye health, and nourishes the skin and hair – one of the reasons why this plant is so common in Southeast Asia in both food and beauty products.
A plant that can do magic tricks
Butterfly Peas most exciting feature is that it can change color. The plant is PH-sensitive and reacts with acidic liquids. Add hot water to the Butterfly Pea powder and you will get a deep cobalt blue tea. Squeeze the lemon and the tea becomes richly purple. Add the petals of hibiscus and watch as the blue turns to fuchsia pink. When you add soda, the color turns blue again.
In the form of powder, the plant is the easiest to use and the color is also much more intense. The powder can be used to color lemonades, cakes, pastries, pasta, rice and sushi. Just use your imagination.
Summary
If you want to color drinks and foods naturally, without artificial tricks, Blue Spirulina and Butterfly Pea are these two magical ingredients.
Because the Butterfly Pea tolerates heat well, it works in foods where blue spirulina can get into trouble. Therefore, it is good if you have both powders in the kitchen cabinet at home.
Buy powders here:
Butterfly Pea powder: https://centralsun.com/product/butterfly-pea-powder-100g/
Blue Spirulina powder: https://centralsun.com/product/blue-spirulina-50g/