Butterfly Pea Powder

Day 20 of Spicemas

I was not expecting this. The really funny thing about it is that I’d done a little shopping after the cranberry juice powder earlier this month, and acquired some powdered blackberry for my husband who loves that fruit. While I was hunting it down, I’d found Butterfly Pea Powder and knew immediately what to do with it. I sent it to the Junior Mad Scientist (child 3 of 4, and in her twenties now) with a message to have a Blue Christmas!

The joke is that when much younger, the JMS loved any blue food. Didn’t matter what it was, if it was blue she wanted it. Butterfly pea powder is very blue, and has the interesting property that in the presence of an acid (say, in lemonade) it will change to purple. Which makes it great for teaching pH to small children, but that’s a digression. You can make food blue with it, and I knew the JMS would enjoy it as a gift. Which I could tell because I shortly got a photo of her holding a blue devilled egg. Hah!

A dash of powder, it’s more lavendar when dry, but that changes when wetted.

Therefore, my getting it as a spice was amusing, and made me want to make something my little girls would have loved at this time of year. My husband, when I described my plan to him, shuddered in horror. Too sweet, too silly… perfect, in other words, for a fun and messy project with littles.

Cherry Berry Hot Cocoa

Begin with hot cocoa mix as you do, then add:

2 heaping teaspoons of blackberry fruit powder (or the cranberry powder from earlier this month)

Beat about 1/2 cup heavy cream with about 1/2 tsp of butterfly pea powder, add a bit of sugar if you like. This will be a pastel blue, but adding more pea powder will make it taste like, well, peas!

Pour hot water into your mug, not filling it fully, and mix. Scoop a dollop of your blue cream on top. Garnish with marshmallow, a cherry, and optionally, a cherry candy cane! Sprinkle it if you got’em and serve to squeals of delight over the anticipated sugar rush.

For the adults, a dollop of something like rum or kirschvasser might be fun… especially when you come home after an evening spent admiring the lights in the city, riding around in an open tram, singing, and spending time with friends.

Behold, the sparkly dolphin of Christmas! We wish you good tidings of cheer, and in your cocoa, blue cream!

It’s more than a little silly, but you know? We don’t have to be serious all of the time. Play with your food! Explore some of these flavors if you like, or make up your own. We used to make cranberry tea, then mix in hot cocoa and it would taste like chocolate-covered cherries in a cup. As a kid, I loved that. Today reminded me very much of when my kids were young and we made up things that suited their sweet tooth and made me laugh.

Which is part of what Christmas is all about.