Why Lemon Makes Butterfly Pea Purple
This is chemistry, not theater. Lemon juice lowers pH, and its protons rearrange flower pigments rather than adding color, shifting the liquid from blue toward purple. Blue has a limit. At near-neutral pH, a blue quinoidal-base form is prominent; under acid, redder molecular forms gain ground.The color change is more disciplined than its party-trick reputation suggests: anthocyanins, including the...More
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