Cornflower vs blue mallow
The two blue flowers that turn up in European blends. One is a fixed blue that contributes nothing else, and the other changes colour on contact with acid and has a texture worth noticing.
botanical
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Cornflower | Blue mallow |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A former cornfield weed, now grown deliberately for blending. | A common European roadside and field plant. |
| Colour | Intense blue; the pigment is heat-sensitive and browns quickly if dried hot. | Blue-grey, and the pigment collapses to brown in light. |
| Colour change | None. It is a fixed blue. | Shifts to pink instantly on acid, like butterfly pea. |
| Flavour | Essentially neutral with a faint hay note. | Very mild, with a noticeably slippery mouthfeel. |
| Mouthfeel | Nothing to speak of. | Silky and slightly mucilaginous, which is more distinctive than the taste. |
| Where you meet it | Earl Grey and flavoured black tea, as a blending convention. | Italian and Balkan household tisanes and European flower blends. |
| What it tells you | Nothing about grade; it is a house style. | Nothing either, though the colour change is at least a real property. |
The short answer
Cornflower is decoration and blue mallow is decoration with a trick and a texture. Neither is a reason to choose a blend.
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