HerbalEGram: Volume 14, Issue 7, July 2017

Brilliant blue botanical has a long history of use as both food and medicine.

Editor’s note: This video was produced independently by Chris Kilham. The information contained herein is provided is for educational purposes. The views expressed by all contributors belong to them and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Botanical Council.

In this video, Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham discusses the properties of butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), a Southeast Asian flowering vine in the legume (Fabaceae) botanical family. Reporting from a Chinatown market in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Kilham visits a juice bar where vendors prepare anchan, a sweetened, iced beverage made from the blue-purple flowers of C. ternatea.

Butterfly pea, also known as Darwin pea or blue pea,¹ has been used as a medicine in Ayurveda for centuries. “In Ayruveda, India’s oldest medicinal system, it’s actually considered something that ameliorates the wrath of the god of Karma,” Kilham explains in the video. The juice and flowers of the plant have been traditionally used as a treatment for snakebites, and the root has been used to treat sore throat, various skin diseases, and to improve cognitive function.^1,2 Modern research has shown butterfly pea to have antioxidant, antidiabetic, and hepatoprotective properties.³ 

The brilliant hue of butterfly pea flowers comes from anthocyanins — antioxidant compounds that are responsible for the blue, purple, and red coloration of many plants, including blueberry (Vaccinium spp., Ericaceae), cranberry (V. macrocarpon), and acai (Euterpe oleracea, Arecaceae). Kilham notes that the flowers are also used as coloring agents for various desserts and sold dried as ready-to-brew tea ingredients.

The addition of an acidic component, such as lime juice, to butterfly pea flower tea slowly changes the color of the beverage. As such, butterfly pea has gained popularity in the West in recent years as a novelty coloring agent for cocktails and specialty drinks.^4,5

—ABC Staff

References

1. Al-Snafi AE. Pharmacological importance of Clitoria ternatea – A review. IOSR Journal of Pharmacy. 2016;6(3):68-83. Available at: www.iosrphr.org/papers/v6i3/G0636883.pdf. Accessed July 10, 2017.
2. Mukherjee PK, Jumar V, Kumar NS, Heinrich M. The Ayurvedic medicine Clitoria ternatea—From traditional use to scientific assessment. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2008;120(3):291-301. Available at: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874108004911. Accessed July 10, 2017.
3. Clitoria ternatea (Aparajita): A Review of the Antioxidant, Antidiabetic and Hepatoprotective Potentials. International Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Science. 2013;(3)1:203-213. Available at: www.ijpbs.com/ijpbsadmin/upload/ijpbs_510e88f33323f.pdf. Accessed July 10, 2017.
4. Goldberg E. The Science Behind This Mesmerizing Color-Changing Tea. January 31, 2016. Bon Appetit. Available at: www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/butterfly-pea-flower-color-changing-tea. Accessed July 10, 2017.
5. Simonson R. A Mood-Ring Ingredient Makes Cocktails Change Color. June 30, 2016. The New York Times. Available at: www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/dining/blue-cocktails-blure-butterfly-pea-flower.html. Accessed July 10, 2017.