Natural Colouring

Butterfly Pea Flower (Clitoria ternatea)

Butterfly Pea Flower is a blue colour flower that able to use as a food colouring. It is mostly used in South East Asia cuisine. In Malaysia, butterfly pea flower is widely use to prepare Kelantanese nasi kerabu, a blue coloured rice and Nyonya kuih ketan / pulut tai tai which is a blue glutinous rice cake.  In Indonesia, butterfly pea flower is use for naturopathy, an alternative medicine to treat ulcer, red eye, fever, and distended abdomen, irritation in the bladder and urethra and more. Moreover, butterfly pea flower is use to make blue syrup beverage called nam dok anchan (น้ำดอกอัญชัน) and it usually served with honey and lemon. The Thai use this flower as an herbal medicine to promote blood circulation in the scalp, nourishing and strengthening hair follicles to treat hair loss and prematurely gray hair [9].

Kelantanese Nasi Kerabu

Nam Dok Anchan

Kuih Ketan / Pulut Tai Tai

Anthocyanin

Anthocyanin is richly found in butterfly pea flower and it is the chemical compound that gives blue colour to the flower.  Anthocyanin is a water-soluble pigment that may appear red, blue or purple in fruits and vegetable. It absorbed blue, blue-green, and green light according to its chemical structure. Therefore, the light reflected by the fruits and vegetables are in red, purple and green colour. Anthocyanin is very sensitive to pH. When pH is low, it appears in red colour and blue colour at higher pH. Anthocyanin are form when the sugar react with the certain protein in the cell sap. Besides, it is also act as a second metabolites in human body due to its powerful antioxidant property. Hence, anthocyanin provides a health benefits by lower the risk of cancer, aging and also stimulates the blood circulation [14].

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Pandan (Pandanus amaryllfolius Roxb)

It is a tropical plant can be found and popular used as food colouring as well as flavouring among in South East Asia country including Malaysia [15]. In Vietnam, rice often cook with pandan to provide a green appearance which is called Xôi Lá Nếp, while in Malaysia pandan is used in Onde-onde making in order to provide a green coat. Chlorophyll derivative compounds in pandan leaf such as chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b are contribute the green colour to food and can be extracted to utilize as a natural colouring. Onde-Onde Xôi Lá Nếp Chlorophyll Chlorophyll compound absorbs yellow and blue light wavelength of light and reflects green wavelength of light. Chemical structure of chlorophyll is a complex molecule which contain a ring structure (the porphyrin structure) with a central magnesium ion and a long carbohyddrate side chain [5]. The classification of chlorophyll in food label is coloring agent and its E-number is E140 or E141. Chlorophyll helps to prevent cancer as it has the availability to bind with certain carcinogenic chemicals and avoid causing of cell damage [4].