Butterfly Peaflower Tea Question

Smaug

How do distillers use it for coloring and flavoring when it's not FDA approved?

Or is that Just a Canadian thing?

What about the guys in OZ?

crozdog

just steeped AFAIK

jacksonbrown

I've used extract before.
It's a bit of a gimmick though and not UV stable. We have a bottle of yellow Ink that got a bit too much sun.

grim

It's not legal in the US yet. There are a number of companies making the necessary research and regulatory investments.

Maybe something changed over the last few months, but I doubt it.

As far as bartenders using it, nobody is really going to care what happens at that level, certainly not the TTB or FDA.

Smaug

Ah, so more widely used for house made concoctions then.

Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co

@jacksonbrown said: I've used extract before.
It's a bit of a gimmick though and not UV stable. We have a bottle of yellow Ink that got a bit too much sun.

I figured they'd be using a color fixative of some sort but apparently not, hmm.

I'm curious what effect acid has on the yellowed product.

madspeed

I've been toying with my gin, macerating with butterfly peaflower after distilled. Needed something different for a small gathering we're having and this should do it! left jar had 4 peaflowers added for a few hours, they split into two jars. After a few attempts, I realize I overdid it with the citric acid on this one, but this was my first test. All in all a success in my book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JKZvjhwHvA

Unsensibel

Reviving this thread as I just saw a Canadian gin on the shelf here in the US. This and the wife wants a purple drink for Halloween.

Has anyone experimented with it? What’s the flavor impact?

Looking for a starting point to play around…

SingleMaltYinzer

We used it for a gin that never was bottled. I don't remember it having much flavor impact.

grim

It's fairly neutral. Once you taste it, you'll be able to pick out the flavor, but it's going to be masked enough by the cocktail that most people aren't going to be able to distinguish it.

It works like a pH indicator, the acidity in your cocktail (citrus juice) is going to impact the color.

Figure 4 from The Butterfly Pea Flower as a pH Indicator @ Semantic Scholar

Highly acidic cocktails are going to lean more magenta.

Unsensibel

I started with .5g / 250 ml for tequila, vodka and rum. Let’s see how the colors turn out overnight…

Unsensibel

1st try.
Steeped for 12 hours, 2 oz on ice then mixed with fever tree tonic.
Turned a little pale for my taste and I’ll try with doubling the amount.

grim

Isn’t that windex color just amazing?