Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Sweet butterfly peas

Locally we call it Bunga Talang/Telang. Otherwise its called butterfly pea or blue pea vine (Clitoria ternatea). Mine was given by a blogger friend and was grown in a flower bed near a chain fence for easy climbing. Its such an unassuming little plants until they bloom with the violet/blue flowers. Usually the flower petals are single with white or yellow markings in the centre but mine is a doubled-layered.


pretty violet/blue flowers


though I wish I could have the white flower variety which is seldom seen or maybe the soil composition that produces the white flowers instead of blue?


very petite vines with small but showy blooms, self-seeded but will grow lanky, so have to trim the vines to make them bushy


I just noticed that my butterfly peas (bunga talang) plant has lots of small flat pod fruits

on it

So this morning, I picked all the bigger peas - maybe will cook them in a stir-fry mixed veggie? Usually they are grown for their blue flowers to make dye or food colouring but havent heard of eating those peas but I guess they must be edible since their flowers are edible too. You can dry the flowers and make blue tea just like the Thais with added sugar or honey or make blue jelly or blue ice-cream! The Thais grow the butterfly pea flowers commercially. But more familiar locally are the blue rice (nasi kerabu).


the lovely flowers are a food source which attract butterflies, thats why they are called butterfly peas




their peas reminded me of the sweet peas I usually bought in packets at the supermarket though sweet peas are broader


today's harvest - butterfly peas and okras



the seed pods dried on the plant and kept for future planting - I dont have to worry about running out of seeds because Ive seen a few new seedlings already sprouting nearby the parent plant, since they are also self-seeded

31 comments:

Egretta Wells blog said...

Such a beautiful bright color of blue these blossoms are. No wander they attract butterflies. Let us know if the peas are delicious to eat.

HolleyGarden said...

Pretty blue! The thought of blue ice cream sounds delightful!

Cat said...

I love the idea of blue tea! That's fascinating.

Malar said...

Such a beautiful blue flowers! The peas are edible? good!Do they have the same taste as the green beans/peas?

James David said...

I never knew that those peas were edible.
I had once tasted the white variety of the blue pea. It was crispy and nice.
I think they will do great for salad.

Stephanie said...

Nevermind if they don't sell it in the market haha... Moreover your flowers give you more blue coz they are double layered ;-)

p3chandan said...

Egretta you would love painting those lovely blue with yellow markings which is indeed very striking. Ok I will let you know the taste of the peas.

Holley, whatever their colour, ice cream is still ice cream...yummy!

Cat, I would like to try the blue tea too once I dry those flowers!

I think they are edible Malar. James, if you have eaten the white variety peas, so it should be the same taste!

p3chandan said...

Steph,I think I would love the taste of their peas just like the sweet peas in the market!

rainfield61 said...

I love to eat kuih with the blue colour.

kitchen flavours said...

I never knew the peas can be eaten! I will let my sis know of this, as she has this plant along her fence!

p3chandan said...

Blue is such an interesting colour for food whether they are kueh, cakes,ice cream or rice Rainfield!

Joyce, since James said he has eaten the white flower variety, it should be ok to eat the blue variety one too!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Hopefully when I return back to tanahairku, I have the chance to grow these lovely plant. As a replacement, waiting for our sweetpeas to bloom come spring. Sedapnya nasi kerabu. I like those deep blue colour bloom:). Do keep us update on how the peas taste like.

b-a-g said...

Some "blue" flowers don't look all that blue to me, but this one does!

Christine @ the Gardening Blog said...

Thats a very attractive plant and the flowers are so pretty!

Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade Gardens said...

What a spectacular color. Let us know how the tea turns out.

Masha said...

The color is certainly bright enough to be used as a dye. Blue ice cream would be good!

Autumn Belle said...

I am growing the butterfly pea for the flowers and didn't the beans can be eaten. Do let us know how it taste like. If you have seeds, can you spare me some of those with double flowers. They are really beautiful.

p3chandan said...

Diana, dah lupa la..ade tak bunga telang seeds I sent recently? Kalau takde I will send them later.Memang suka nasi kerabu sesekali makan sedap, selalu nye pegi ke Kg Baharu memang banyak masakan Kelantan disana. The peas almost look like the sweetpeas, maybe the taste is the same too!

BAG, the blue is captivating!

Christine, yes they are quite lovely!

Ok Carolyn will let you know and maybe a post about the blue tea!

Masha, here especially the South East Asia regions they are used as food colouring...blue ice cream will look pretty but of course, it will taste like any other ice cream, its just a colouring!

Ok Autumn Belle, will get your address when I have more of the seeds, Ive given out to other bloggers too.

Kathleen said...

That is a gorgeous vine ~ I think the blue flower is SO pretty! I'm not familiar with it at all so I think it's unusual even tho it sounds like it might be a common vine there? Sounds perfect too because you can eat the peas & it attracts butterflies. An all purpose plant!

Red Rose said...

I love the way this flower spreads! I used it to make a little fence in front of my house!

Melanie Giant said...

I much love the color blue rather than the white ones. I think a friend of mine has white flowers I'll ask about it on how it will grow as white.

Spinet Schoenhut said...

Nice article about your garden! The sweet butterfly pea flowers with it’s blue color is nice to look at. I wish I could have seeds of that plant so that I can plant it also in my garden. By the way, I think the color of the flowers are due to its “genes” and not on the soil type.

Unknown said...

Hi, I was looking for this seeds for quite so long...can I buy the seed from you??

GO GREEN said...

Salam..nak tanya ada lg tak seeds double layer blue pea tu? Kalau ada Lynn minat nak beli, susah nak dpt kat Subang Jaya ni.. pm lynn di helite.enterprise@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

You can buy the dried butterfly pea flowers form BlueChai, http://bluechai.com

Mas Christ said...

Kami menyediakan berbagai macam kebutuhan anda mengenai kembang Teleng /Bunga Teleng
1. Bibit benih (Biji) yang dikemas dan berisi : 100 biji, 200 biji dan 500 biji atau lebih banyak lagi sesuai dengan permintaan/kebutuhan anda.
2. Bunga Teleng kondisi segar (baru dipetik dari pohon) dalam kemasan berisi 200 bunga, 400 bunga, dan 500 bunga, atau lebih banyak lagi sesuai dengan permintaan/kebutuhan anda.
3. Bunga Teleng yang sudah dikeringkan dalam kemasan, berisi 200 bunga kering, 400 bunga kering, dan 500 bunga kering, atau lebih banyak lagi sesuai permintaan/kebutuhan anda.
4. Bibit pohon kembang teleng yang belum berbunga, usia pohon antara 2 - 3 bulan dengan ketinggian 20 cm- 30 cm
5. Pohon Kembang Teleng yang sudah berbunga antara 1 – 4 bunga dan bunganya bisa langsung anda petik sendiri.
Silahkan bagi yang berminat dan ingin segera memiliki, hubungi kami melalui telepon/SMS ke nomor :
081384824904
BB :
KC Nursery
Christo

DAPATKAN BERBAGAI MACAM KHASIAT DAN KEGUNAAN KEMBANG TELENG DALAM KEHIDUPAN SEHARI HARI ANDA....

Notice said...

Hello, I do sell the seeds! Please email me at
sub.liminal@outlook.com , and i will get to you asap:)

Unknown said...

Hi,

I have the lavendar colour of this plant in my garden, and am in the process of growing the white and blue since they are so pretty. If anyone is interested, I can mail you a pod of seeds of lavendar since one blue flowered plant is just growing and I haven't planted the white as yet. The health benefits of this plant are amazing !

Unknown said...

I grew it in Suriname as wall cover and for shade on the porch. I was gifted the seeds from a dear friend there. Now we are growing it in 2 school gardens in Tanzania

Sherrin Bernstein, LMT, CA said...

The iguanas love to eat the flowers. I’m in Miami, FL, USA. My yoga teacher Pom, from Miami Beach Iyengar Yoga Center gave me seed pods to grow them. They are beautiful. I don’t eat the seed pods.

Sherrin Bernstein, LMT, CA said...

Taiwan has issued warnings to not eat the seed pods and roots as they can cause diarrhea etc. https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2019/05/22/Butterfly-pea-blues-Taiwan-officials-warn-against-consumption-of-plant-but-permit-colouring-use