Ingredients · Flower

Malva

Malva sylvestris · Malvaceae (mallow family)

Malva
The same plant as blue mallow, under the name a supplier happened to use — malva flowers and blue mallow flowers are both Malva sylvestris, and the shop's ingredient lists use both words. Two products carry them under this spelling. Reddish-purple petals with dark stripes, a pH-sensitive pigment that shifts colour with acid, and a soft mucilaginous body in the cup. See blue mallow for the fuller account.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partFlower
KindFlower
CaffeineCaffeine-free
TasteVery mild and faintly sweet, with a soft, slightly slippery body
How to brew it
  • 185°F / 85°C
  • 3 to 5 minutes
  • hot water dulls the colour

How to use it

Steeped for colour and a soft mouthfeel. Water below boiling keeps the blue; boiling dulls it. Acid turns it pink.

With food

Lemon, which changes its colour. Honey. Anything delicate.

With spices

Lemon peel. Rose. Lavender. Cornflower.

With tea

White tea and light greens. Rooibos. Lemon balm and lemongrass.

Its story

Where it comes from

Native to western Europe, North Africa and Asia. Our lot names no origin. If the two spellings on our labels turn out to be different plants, the supplier would need to say so — on the evidence they are the same.

What happened

Mallow was eaten before it was brewed — the young leaves and shoots are edible raw or cooked, and across the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East it remains a wild food plant. In Egypt the leaves make khobeiza, a winter stew; in Morocco, Tunisia and Palestine they are steamed with garlic and tomatoes and eaten as a salad. Mrs Grieve wrote in 1931 that it had been much superseded by marsh mallow but was still a favourite remedy with country people. Its flowers were spread on doorways and woven into garlands for May Day.

On the shelf with it

Every product it goes into.

Every ingredient in the shop

Explore

Other ways in

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