Thanks to the wisdom of the old days. Thais have been using this natural blue food coloring using “Butterfly Pea Flower” to make beautiful and intricate food for a long time – often made in the royal kitchen to be served in the palace back then.
Though this is not new discovery but in recent years the trend of blue food has been booming. One reason is more and more people focus on healthy eating habit. No chemical food dye and more natural.
Butterfly Pea Flowers
Thais call it “An-Chan”. I won’t bore you with the botanical info. You can read about it and all the health benefits here. The fresh flower is edible, so you can eat incorporate them into salad or make a tempura dish.
If the fresh flowers are hard to come by, the dried flowers are usually available and they make an excellent cup of tea with blue hue.
The Butterfly Pea Flowers also have another trick in their sleeves. If you add lemon juice into the Butterfly Pea tea, the acidity from lemon juice will change pH of the tea and change the color from blue to red-ish purple. How fun is that!!!
Blue Food
To make food coloring, you’ll need the fresh flowers. Either steep or boil them in water until the water turn blue. The more time you let them steep, the darker color blue you will get. From there you will get all natural blue food coloring to mix into food , in rice, or in flour dough or paste to make noodle or dessert.
Going Extreme Blue
The blue trend has become more and more popular. So popular that one noodle shop in Chiang Mai has gone to the extreme and made their menu all about blue food.
The blue trend has become more and more popular. So popular that one noodle shop in Chiang Mai has gone to the extreme and made their menu all about blue food.
Wondering about the taste? No need to be worried. It doesn’t alter the taste of the food at all.
Do you think you are ready to try blue food?
Kaew Taew An-Chan (An-Chan Noodle)
Kaew Taew An-Chan (An-Chan Noodle)
Address: 19/1 Siri MangKalaJarn Rd, Alley 9 , Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Next to Italian Consulate
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/3zw9EDwTKkL2
Hours: Daily 08.00 am – 04.00 pm. Closed last Thursday of each month.
Prices: $
Happy Eating
Patt W
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