Make these fun, Color Changing Purple and Pink Lemonade Slushies and Popsicles to cool down this summer! Dried blue pea flowers, raspberries, lemons and sugar are all the ingredients you need to make this color changing lemonade slushie. It’s the perfect summer treat that kids would LOVE! (VIDEO + RECIPE)
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‘Tis the season for lemonade, my friends. For those of us living north of the equator, at least. And for the rest of you guys… life is but a circle, and it always comes back. 🙂
Summer is my enemy, and anything cold is my friend. Anything cold and refreshing, is my best friend! And these Purple and Pink Lemonade Slushies are my BFF! I’m rapidly running out of freezer and fridge space these days, because I’ve been stocking up on popsicles and plenty of these pink lemonade slushies and pink lemonade popsicles (and between you and me, some of my stock of slushies also contain a shot of vodka, because hey… why not?).
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Purple and Pink Lemonade Popsicles!
Summer just isn’t the same for me without lemonade slushies and popsicles, because those were the very first frozen treats that I remember eating (and craving) when I was little – you know, way back when, during those dark mythical ages of the late 1980s when dinosaurs (adults) roamed the earth. All these years later, I still love me some pink lemonade slushies and popsicles, especially in the summer. ‘Tis the season for lemonade, after all.
But every now and then, I just like to try something different, just for the fun of it. This Strawberry Apple Lemonade that I shared a while back (the photos are embarrassing because these are from 2014, just after I had started this blog, but the recipe is phenomenal) is still one of Mr K’s absolute favorite drinks! And then there was this Rainbow Lemonade that I made last year from rainbow colored fruit ice cubes (no artificial coloring).
blue ice (blue pea flower tea) and pink ice (raspberries)
And what I have here today aren’t ordinary lemonade slushies either. These are (magical) color changing Purple and Pink Lemonade Slushies and Popsicles, that kids would absolutely go nuts for! I know I would’ve gone crazy for ’em when I was a kid. Heck, I still do. We’ve been drinking this pink lemonade for a whole month now, and it never ceases to excite me every time I pour in the lemonade syrup and see that color change. 🙂
These purple and pink lemonade slushies are SO EASY to make, because they both use the same lemonade syrup! The colors are all natural too (ZERO ARTIFICIAL COLORING). How did I get that color changing effect? With a neat little trick that I’m very very fond of. 🙂
Captured at just the right moment to see the color change! 🙂
To make pink lemonade slushies – I use raspberry flavored water. Traditionally, pink lemonade is made with grenadine, but I like using raspberry because of that delightfully tangy, fruity raspberry flavor that it adds, and plus it’s au naturel.
To make purple lemonade slushies – I use blue pea flower tea (also known as butterfly pea flower), and that’s where the magic happens! 🙂 As the name suggests the beautiful blue pea flower water starts off bright blue. And then you add the lemonade, and with the help of a little bit of basic science, it immediately turns purple. Blue pea tea is what’s known as a natural color indicator.
Here’s the science behind this fun reaction, which kids would LOVE to know, I’m sure. It’s a science experiment that’s delicious and PERFECT for summer!
So as you might know there aren’t any naturally blue-colored fruits. Blueberry (despite its name), turns dark purple when mashed and mixed. Ever wondered why that happens?
All the “blue fruits” and “blue vegetables” like blueberry, blackberry, black raspberry, eggplant, purple cauliflower, red cabbage, and blue pea flowers (butterfly pea flower) etc. all contain a water-soluble pigment called Anthocyanin – which is responsible for that purple to blue color. Out of all those things that I listed above, blue pea flowers are the only flowers that can be used to extract a natural blue color that’s soluble in water (the flower itself is dark purple/blue).
What’s interesting however is that anthocyanin changes its color depending on the pH level of the solvent it’s in! So it can change from orange to pink to purple to yellow depending on whether it’s in an acidic or basic solution.
I remember back in middle school, we used these blue pea flowers as a pH/color indicator to test common solutions in science class. 🙂 I remember it turning yellow(ish) when baking soda (basic – high pH) is added, and a beautiful purple/pink when lemon or vinegar (acidic – low pH) was added!
That latter color change in a low pH solution is what’s taking place here in these pink lemonade slushies!
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Anthocyanin pigment in the blue ice reacting with the acid in lemonade syrup to change color
Here are some of the pointers that I have picked up in the process of making this color changing lemonade on a daily basis over the last month!
Make sure you brew a very strong tea from those blue pea flowers (with a deep, dark blue color). A lighter blue will produce a less prominent and less impressive color change – not as fun and satisfying.
If you’re mixing liquid (and not ice), you need to add the blue liquid TO the lemon juice (instead of the other way around) to clearly see that color change. Adding lemonade or lemon juice to the blue liquid (which is already dark blue in color) will not yield a drastic color change. However if you are using blue ice, you can do it both ways! The crushed ice will be lighter in color and you can see the color change clearly.
And less importantly – I used 1 cup capacity glasses to serve these pink lemonade slushies in. If you add 1:1 ratio of blue and pink ice, there is more of a contrast between the purple and pink layers. But if you add more blue ice and less pink ice, purple will become the predominant color of your lemonade slushie (for the purpose of the video, I used more blue ice to show the color change, but I prefer the effect of using equal amounts of colored ice).
Aaaannd, because I love you guys, here’s a bonus recipe idea – you can enjoy these delicious purple and pink lemonade slushies as beautiful pastel ombre purple and pink lemonade popsicles as well! There’s no color change here of course, but they still look mighty pretty.
So slushies or popsicles? Or both? Which one will you be making this summer? They are both oh-so easy to make, and your kids are going to love ’em! 🙂
Pink Lemonade Slushies
Make ice cubes with the blue pea flower tea and with raspberry water.
Crush the ice separately to get colored icy snow (shaved ice), or if you don’t have an ice crushing blender, simply use your regular blender with some sparkling water (or vodka or tequila for the adults) to make the blending easier.
Layer the crushed blue ice at the bottom, and then the crushed pink ice on top, and pour in the lemonade syrup to fill the glass. Watch as your blue and pink “snow” turns into purple and pink lemonade slushies! 🙂
Ooooh yea, baby!
Pink Lemonade Popsicles are easy too – just mix the liquids separately to get purple and pink lemonade (1:2 ratio of lemonade syrup to liquid), layer the purple lemonade and pink lemonade in popsicles molds and freeze until completely set.
(PIN IT FOR LATER)
2 fantastic lemonades.
2 delicious ways to enjoy.
1 magical color changing experience that kids will LOVE!
Make this fun, summer treat for your kids and enjoy some refreshingly delicious pink lemonade slushies and popsicles in the process!
NOW FOR THE RECIPE VIDEO! (Subscribe to The Flavor Bender on You Tube)
- 2 cups of lemon juice (about 8 -10 lemons)
- ¼ cup lemon rind (optional)
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 0.5oz dried blue pea flowers (or 2 tea bags)
- 2 ¼ cup boiling water
- 3 oz raspberries (frozen or fresh)
- 2 ¼ cup boiling water
- Place the dried blue pea flowers and raspberries in two separate 2 ½ cup capacity bowls or jugs.
- Pour 2 ¼ cups of boiling water over both. Stir, cover and set aside.
- Leave the blue pea flower tea to brew for about 5 minutes until dark blue. Strain. Let the tea to cool down.
- Leave the raspberries in the water for 10 - 15 minutes. Strain (you don’t need to extract any pulp from the raspberries). Let the pink liquid cool down.
- Once they have cooled down, fill your ice cube trays with the pink and blue water and freeze overnight.
- Place the water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium-heat while stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves and the syrup boils. Remove from the heat and let it cool down to room temperature. (if you like your lemonade to have a very slight bitterness along with its tanginess, use a zester to grate a loose ¼ cup of rind into it - about 4 large lemons).
- Squeeze enough lemon juice to make 2 cups of lemon juice. Combine the zest and lemon juice and set aside until the sugar syrup (simple syrup) cools down.
- Mix the Lemon juice and simple syrup together. Keep it covered in the fridge in a glass bottle. This can be kept for a few days, and you can make lemonade with soda water or plain water by mixing in a 1:2 ratio for a strong lemonade (or add more soda or water for a more diluted lemonade).
- Place the blue pea ice cubes in an ice crushing blender. Blend until you have shaved ice (or add ¼ cup of water or vodka to help with crushing the ice in a regular blender).
- Place the pink raspberry ice cubes in the ice crushing blender, and blend to have shaved ice.
- Fill each of your 1 cup capacity glasses with crushed blue ice at the bottom, and then crushed pink ice. Pour ½ cup of the lemonade syrup over the ice (ideally IN FRONT of your kids/guests to see the blue to bright purple color change!). Serve with a spoon/straw.
- Mix 1 cup of blue pea flower tea with ½ cup of lemonade syrup and pour it into popsicles molds. Leave it in the freezer for 3 - 4 hours until it just starts to freeze.
- Mix 1 cup of raspberry water with ½ cup lemonade syrup and pour on top of the hardened (but not frozen) purple layer to fill the popsicle molds. Cover, insert popsicle sticks and freeze overnight. Unmold and serve.
If you liked these purple and pink lemonade slushies, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER,INSTAGRAM,  PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
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I’ll be sharing my recipe over at –
FoodieFriDIY   |   Friday Favorites   |   Fiesta Fridays   |   Saucy Saturdays
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Oh this is one interesting drink to serve up on the next gathering!
I would also like to feature this on my next blog post! I will of course reply back when posted with link.
Thank you Eliza! I would love for you to feature this recipe link in your post, as long as the full recipe is not published! I will be creating a series for color changing cocktails in the near future too! 🙂
Your welcome. added a short description 🙂 here’s the link to the post.
https://budgetedlifestyle.wordpress.com/2017/06/24/summer-stylin-home-lifestyle/
Sure both kids and adults will love this colour changing slushies! Loved reading about blue pea flowers.
Thank you Ahila 🙂
Brightening up our days again here Dini. You are amazingly creative. Thanks too for the science lesson – I’m impressed the recipe lists only natural ingredients.
Dini! You are amazing! My kids will love these! Maybe we can have the best lemonade stand in history!
Thanks for the feature of my Jalapeño Potato Salad! That made my day!
PS I enjoyed the video! So fun!
If there was a lemonade stand selling Magic Lemonade, I know that’s where I would go! 😀 hahaha!! Thank you Michelle!
Violets do the same thing. it is so cool!
My sister and I read this post and watched the video, and loved it! We think we’d add a bit of rum for the adults 😉 I definitely want to make it for my grandsons though!
I am in love with these eye-popping slushies! what a fun party idea (or you know, ANY DAY idea).
There’s nothing wrong with a little shot of vodka, rum. . .or any other boozy delight in your popsicle. . .it’s just there to provide extra relaxation so that the summers can be enjoyed to the fullest. And can we talk about that tea? I’m a big time tea drinker and have never actually heard of it. It must be pretty amazing though because the color it produces is out of this world. These are such beautiful treats to help beat the heat.
I love that we agree on spiking our popsicles! 😀 hahaha! Thank you Lynn!
Yes the tea! Isn’t it awesome?? When I was growing up my grandmother had vines of this flower in her garden and we had so much fun with it – but NEVER knew it was good to drink them too!
I think it’s becoming more well known now and becoming commercially available (though not widely available – I got mine on Amazon). But when I was young, we just boiled the fresh flowers instead.
This was fascinating!!! I’ve never even heard of those flowers- I NEED SOME!!! This is the coolest thing ever!
Such great colors – such great fun.
Thank you Peter! 🙂
These are stunning and so much fun! Additionally, I learned things here. It doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks for the awesome post!
Thank you so much Dana! I’m so glad you enjoyed reading and hope you get to make this soon 😀
This awesome… a lesson in food chemistry!
Love the video <3. Must search for blue colour pea flower tea ( we used this flower for other Asian dessert too 😉 )
Thank you Lisa! I bought my dried flowers on Amazon, but I’m sure bigger cities will have them readily available in tea or herbal shops! They were used for medicinal drinks when I was young too and readily available in the garden! If only I knew back then 😀
So I watched the video in the morning and I’m still in awe with this drink! I mean, it’s just gorgeous and I love the science behind it, reminded me of what we used to do in middle school, same as you! <3
Thank you Shadi! 🙂 Who would have thought middle school science would one day be helpful in making drinks right? 😀