Butterfly pea colour-changing amethysts

Ingredient

• Regular-strength Thé Paon butterfly pea tea
• any flavouring that has a neutral or basic pH (like citrus zest but not citrus juice)
• 2g agar powder

Method

We’ve left this recipe deliberately vague so you can experiment with your favourite flavours. The final volume of your butterfly pea tea flavoured mixture should be 275mL, to which you add 2g agar powder. Our butterfly pea tea blends (Chamomile, Ginger, or Apple-passion) work well for these edible gems, and you can enhance the flavours with non-acidic ingredients. For example, use fresh lime zest or kaffir lime leaves instead of lime juice (our Ginger tea + lime zest is pretty good).

France has some amazing ‘siropiers’ (distillers of non-alcoholic syrups) who have created syrups in a multitude of flavours – fruits, herbs, and flowers. These are a great addition to your butterfly pea tea mixes because they add a little sweetness, which balances out the squeeze of lime juice at the end (required or the colour change).

In addition to syrups, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions can be prepared when flavouring with eau de vie, liqueurs, or schnapps – but do quick test first because some alcohols create acidic conditions. Non-alcoholic versions care made by burning off the alcohol when dissolving the agar powder. For alcoholic versions just add the flavourings after boiling the agar. Peach (pêche de vigne), apple, and thyme liqueurs all work – you can use anything that is colourless (or almost colourless) and clear. Avoid yellow and light brown liquids (yellow + purple = brown).

See the recipes above for how to make your agar butterfly pea tea mixture.

Shear the set agar mixture to get your gems, then squeeze lime or lemon juice over them. The will start to change colour slowly – it can take 2-10mins to get the nice dual-colour effect.

Tip: you can bring your clear slightly acidic mixtures back to neutral pH be adding a little baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). A little goes a long way, too much and you will feel it at the back of your throat and ruin the edible jewels.