DIY Polyjuice Potion Kit | Harry Potter

“Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry” said Hermione, before catching sight of Ron’s raised eyebrows, blushing slightly and saying “oh you know what I mean – Goyle’s Potion looked like bogies.“

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

Polyjuice potion changes both colour and taste, depending on who you’re transforming into. So how do you convert that idea into a drink for your Harry Potter party? By creating a polyjuice potion kit that’s unique to each person– and you can create this kit using ingredients you find in the grocery store.

How does it work?

The foods we use to create the base colour contain a pigment called anthocyanin. The extracted pigment contains the anthocyanin molecules that will change colour based on the pH it comes in contact with. To create a truly magical experience when mixing your potion, we start with the base colour(purple), add alkaline to alter the colour to a blue or green, then we add acid to transform it into a pink or red.

The ‘magic’ base colour.

If you ever did the red cabbage science experiment at school, you’ll be familiar with this ‘potion’. Plants rich in anthocyanins include blueberry, cranberry, bilberry, black raspberry, red raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrant, cherry, eggplant (aubergine) peel, black rice, ube, Okinawan sweet potato, Concord grape, muscadine grape, red cabbage, and violet petals.
**Please note that I’ve only tested the red cabbage and berries for this recipe.

order	colour	What to add	taste
base	purple	red cabbage or berry water	water with minimal hint of fruit or cabbage
alkaline	blue to green	pH booster drops or bicarbonate soda	slightly alkaline
acid	light pink to red	clear cordial + lemon juice, lime juice or citric acid	flavour

The concocting of polyjuice potion in the Harry Potter series is made up of two parts, so it’s only fitting that we have two stages to make it feel more like a potions 

To make this as magical as possible, remember:

• Add the ingredients in the order they appear. The first two stages aren’t about tasting, they’re about colours transforming. The final stage is where you add your flavour. Turning the water to alkaline before acid is a must– it would take a lot of alkaline to convert the colour back and runs the risk of tasting terrible! 
• If you aren’t sure if your guests will stick with the recommended amount, measure out the amount they need into test tubes and small potion bottles.
• Only use a clear cordial. The magic is in the fact we are adding to no food dye to the purple, and yet the colour transformation is astonishing to see. 

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Displaying the polyjuice potion kit

It’s all in the details at a Harry Potter party. Here are some ideas to make your polyjuice potion even more magical.

• Make potion ingredients available in vintage glass bottles on the table. The base colour and a variety of cordials with varying amounts of acidity can be displayed in a number of potion bottles.
• Alternatively, you might want to measure out correct ingredient amounts for each person and make them available in test tubes in a stand at each table place. 
• Include at each table setting a ‘mini wand’ aka wooden chopstick for stirring. Search for Japanese chopsticks to find chopsticks that have ornate handles. Place the chopstick in a small box with an Ollivanders label. As an example, these ones on Amazon come with 5 sets– 10 wands in total: https://amzn.to/2V1jIhs