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California Natural Color, a global supplier of premium grape juice concentrates, natural colours and grape seed extract, has introduced Pure Purple Butterfly Pea to its colour portfolio. This innovative high-strength crystal colour aims to provide food and beverage manufacturers with bold blue and purple hues, enhancing the visual appeal of clean-label products. The new product leverages California Natural Color's proprietary drying technology, producing a crystal format that offers higher colour concentration compared to existing market alternatives. This format promises supply chain savings through reduced freight and storage requirements, as the crystals do not need refrigeration. Butterfly pea, a unique natural colouring agent, delivers vibrant purple shades in applications with a pH of 4.0 or below and bold blue hues in applications with a pH above 4.0.
The ingredient’s exceptional stability against heat and light enables manufacturers to explore new product categories and develop innovative offerings previously considered unfeasible.
Cori Fujimoto, colour technology manager at California Natural Color, said: "As wellness remains top of mind among consumers, we continue to see demand for healthier, recognisable and sustainable ingredients, with colours from natural sources playing an important role. Natural blue shades have been an industry challenge."
She continued: "Our team constantly innovates to meet the needs of our customers and their consumers. Our unique crystal delivery system offers an exceptionally high-strength pigment free from carriers or additives, leading to cost savings throughout the supply chain." Pure Purple Butterfly Pea is water-soluble and suitable for a wide range of applications including alcoholic beverages, sports and nutrition drinks, soft drinks, juices, ice cream, frozen dairy desserts and confections.