Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea) is a tropical legume native to Southeast Asia, now grown across the tropics for its striking deep-blue flowers. The flowers contain anthocyanin pigments that produce an intense blue colour when steeped in water — and famously change to purple or pink when an acid like lemon juice is added.
The flowers have been used for centuries in Southeast Asian cooking, particularly in Malaysian and Thai cuisines, where they colour rice dishes (nasi kerabu), desserts, and drinks. In recent years, butterfly pea flower has gained global popularity as a natural blue food colouring and as the base for colour-changing cocktails, teas, and lemonades.
The flowers themselves have a very mild, slightly earthy flavour — they’re used primarily for colour rather than taste. Dried butterfly pea flowers are increasingly available in Australia through specialty food stores and online retailers, and the plant can be grown in northern Australian gardens.
How it's produced
Butterfly pea is a vigorous climbing plant that grows readily in tropical and subtropical climates. It’s cultivated as an annual or short-lived perennial, typically trained on trellises or fences. The plant produces flowers continuously over the warm season, and individual flowers are hand-picked, usually in the morning when they’re freshly opened.
Harvested flowers are dried — either sun-dried or in low-temperature dehydrators — to preserve their colour and allow long storage. The dried flowers are sold whole or as a powder for use as a natural food colouring. Major commercial production occurs in Thailand, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries. In Australia, small-scale production exists in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
What it costs the planet (per kilo)
≈ Estimated from its category — typical for legumes & pulses, not measured for this item yet. Sources & methods →
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