This butterfly pea syrup is a homemade simple syrup made using blue butterfly pea flowers. It makes a pretty, naturally colored blue syrup that is great for desserts and drinks!
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- With only 3 ingredients, this easy butterfly pea simple syrup is easy to put together.
- It's deep blue hue gives any drinks or desserts a pretty color.
- When mixed with citrus juices, it changes color from blue to a pretty indigo hue and it is all natural.
- The syrup requires only about 15 minutes to make and you can be make it in advance.
- Kept refrigerated, this lovely blue pea flower syrup lasts well and very convenient to use as it can be prepared in advance.
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📋Ingredients
- Water - use drinking water or filtered water.
- Sugar - white sugar is preferred as it will maintain the blue color of the flowers. Both coarse sugar or granulated sugar will work for this recipe.
- Butterfly pea flowers - both fresh and dried flowers can be used.
*Refer to the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and exact quantities. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and variations
- Dried or fresh butterfly pea flowers can be substituted for butterfly pea powder. Substitute the flowers with one to one and half teaspoons of powder. To use the powder, simply add the water, sugar and the flower powder into a saucepan. Cook until the sugar is dissolved.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🏻🍳How to make
Making the syrup
- Measure water into a small pot.
- Add the sugar. Turn on the heat and let the water come to a simmer. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Turn off the heat. Add in the butterfly pea flowers and stir briefly.
- Cover the pot with a lid and the the flowers steep in the hot syrup for 5 minutes.
- Strain the syrup to discard the flower pulp.
- Press the flowers to remove as much extract as possible before discarding them. Let the syrup cool down to room temperature before using or storing in the refrigerator.
🍽️Serving & storage
- The syrup can last for a good 2 weeks in the refrigerator. If you store it at room temperature, it is best to consume the syrup within a day.
💡Expert tips
- You can use both fresh butterfly pea flowers or the dried version to make this syrup. Both will yield the same results. For optimum results, let the flowers steep in the hot syrup for about 5 minutes to allow all the extract and the color from the flowers to impart into the liquid.
- The syrup recipe on this page makes a rather concentrated butterfly pea syrup, hence the dark blue color of it. You can make your syrup lighter by using lesser flowers.
- I do not, however, recommend adding too many flowers in making the syrup from what I have indicated in the recipe as the butterfly pea flower is a herb and it is always advisable to not overdo with herbs.
⭐What can you use the syrup for?
- This butterfly pea syrup is quite neutral in taste and smell, but it does impart a lovely blue color. Hence it is mostly suitable for making drinks (both hot drinks and cold drinks) and desserts. When mixed with citrus juices, it changes color to an even prettier indigo hue, making it an excellent choice for natural color.
- You can make simple butterfly pea tea or butterfly pea lemonade with this syrup. You can also make cocktails, fruit punch, bubble teas, or simply add it to some soda water to make a fizzy drink with the syrup.
💭FAQs
Butterfly pea plant (Clitoria Ternatea) is a vine that produces delicate bright blue flowers. This plant is native to the Southeast Asia region and the flowers have always been traditionally used as a natural food color. With a very delicate flavor (mild earthy flavor like green tea) and almost tasteless, the flowers are said to be rich antioxidant, hence often consumed as a herbal drink like this butterfly pea flower tea. Having said that, the flowers are only used for the color and extract, and are discarded afterwards.
When steeped in warm or hot water, the flowers impart a deep blue extract and the color often changes to a stunning indigo color when it comes into contact with acidic PH like lemon juice or lime juice.
Blue pea flowers can be used fresh or dried. They are also sold in powder form that can be used directly in drinks and baking.
The butterfly pea syrup recipe on this page uses dried butterfly pea flowers. It is a concentrated syrup, and is therefore of a very dark blue color. It is made using equal amounts of water and sugar that are heated to a boil. The blue pea flowers are added in and allowed to steep for a good 5 minutes before the syrup is strained to discard the flower pulp.
The butterfly pea syrup is a sweet syrup, and there really is not distinct smell or taste that distinguishes it from the normal simple sugar syrup. Nevertheless, the flowers are said to be a good antioxidant source and are also often used as a natural food coloring.
If you cannot find the butterfly pea flowers (either fresh or dried version), you can always purchase them in powder form for this recipe.
Unlike making the syrup with the flowers, if you are using the powder, simply add the powder to the water, sugar and syrup and heat up until the sugar dissolves.
No, this homemade simply syrup should be refrigerated.
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📖Recipe
Butterfly Pea Syrup
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 200 g sugar
- 200 ml water
- ½ cup dried butterfly pea flowers (100 flowers)
Instructions
- Measure water into a small pot.
- Add the sugar and turn on the heat. Let the water come to a simmer. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Turn off the heat. Add in the butterfly pea flowers and stir briefly.
- Cover the pot with a lid and let the flowers steep in the syrup for 5 minutes.
- Strain the syrup to discard the flower pulp. Press the flowers to remove as much extract as possible before discarding them.
- Let the syrup cool down to room temperature before using or storing in the refrigerator.
Notes
- You can use both fresh butterfly pea flowers or the dried version to make this syrup. Both will yield the same results. For optimum results, let the flowers steep in the hot syrup for about 5 minutes to allow all the extract and the color from the flowers to impart into the liquid.
- The flowers can be substituted with butterfly pea flower powder. Substitute with one to one and half teaspoons of powder for the amount of flowers used in the recipe.
- The syrup recipe on this page makes a rather concentrated butterfly pea syrup, hence the dark blue color of it. You can make your syrup lighter by using lesser flowers.
- I do not, however, recommend adding too many flowers in making the syrup from what I have indicated in the recipe as the butterfly pea flower is a herb and it is always advisable to not overdo with herbs.
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