How Colourful Thai Desserts Got Their Hues

Everytime I walk through a food market in Thailand all my senses are on high alert. Whether it’s the delicious smell of moo ping being grilled over charcoal, the sounds of the ladle clanging on the wok, or the vibrant colours of Thai desserts lined in front of the stalls. Yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, the rainbow of colours draw my eyes in like a butterfly seeing a field of flowers. These traditional Thai desserts come in all shapes and sizes, from jelly-like cubes of khanom chan, intricately crafted fruit shapes of luk chup, and coconut balls like khanom tom. Seeing them made me wonder how they got their colours, sure, there’s food colouring but these have existed long before!

Green

Pandan leaf or bai toey in Thai is a plant that grows abundantly in Thailand and many parts of South East Asia. It has been used in cooking, colouring and teas in Thailand for hundreds of years. The long thin leaves have a deep green hue and a beautifully sweet and nutty fragrance that makes it popular for use in desserts. To extract the colour and scent, the leaves are chopped into smaller pieces and blended or pounded with water. The mixture is strained with a cloth or poured through a sieve to remove the fibrous part. What’s left is a dark green liquid that’s ready to be mixed into ingredients to make desserts such as pandan custard, khanom chan, lod chong and khanom dok bua amongst many others things. From a herbal point of view, bai toey is also believed to help with reducing blood sugar, blood pressure and bloating.

Blue and purple

The striking hues of blues and purples are usually from an edible flower called an chan or butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea). To extract the colours, the flower is boiled in water until the petals turn pale. Like magic, the liquid from this flower can change from blue to purple by adding something acidic into it, like a squeeze of lemon or lime. An chan doesn’t have a distinct taste or fragrance but adds a beautiful colour to various food and desserts, from savoury sticky rice to sweet bua loy. It is also said that the flower is packed with antioxidants which supports the immune system and promotes skin and hair health. You might also find yourself drinking butterfly pea flower tea at your next hotel’s welcome drink in Thailand!

Yellow and orange

The yellow and orange hues in Thai desserts are common, however there are a few different sources for these colours. The thong, or ‘golden’ family of Thai desserts such as foi thong, thong yip and thong yod appear orange with a golden hue due to having egg yolk as the main ingredient. For khanom tan or toddy palm cake, the bright yellow comes from the pulp of toddy palm fruits or luk tan. The flesh of ripe palm fruits are carefully extracted and processed until the pulp remains, this is the part that gets incorporated into the mixtures of desserts. Other desserts may also use mashed steamed Thai pumpkins to add a slight sweetness and colour to them.

Black

Not a common colour to see on Thai desserts in the modern day, however khanom piak poon can still sometimes be found in this colour. To achieve this, the husk of old coconuts are burnt until they turn into charcoal then washed and blended in lime water. After straining, the remaining liquid can be used in the mixture, adding a unique colour and fragrance to the dessert.