Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea) is an example of a flower that contains
anthocyanins and gives out the blue colour. Anthocyanins extracted from Butterfly Pea are stable in
weakly acidic or neutral aqueous solution, hence its wide application as a food colourant in
The results show that stability of anthocyanins in aqueous butterfly pea extract is influenced by pH
and temperature, while visual colour display is markedly affected by tinctorial strength. Thermal
degradation of anthocyanin in butterfly pea extract at pH 3 corresponded to first order kinetics. The
application of colourant from butterfly pea in aqueous environment should be done at relatively low
temperature (i.e. room temperature) to avoid rapid changes in visual colour display. This study
would help the potential use of butterfly pea as a source of natural colourants for the food industry
and other technology by predicting the degradation changes of aqueous anthocyanin extracts from
butterfly pea under different storage temperatures and periods.