The Secret to Those Eye-Popping, Neon-Colored Smoothies on Instagram

If ever you've hopped on Instagram, spied some blissed-out blogger's technicolor smoothie bowl, and thought, "This is not a color that exists in nature," you're not alone. But that doesn't mean you're correct.

There are, in fact, completely natural ingredients that when blended into a smoothie, lend it all the glowing luminescence of a poorly-wired neon sign about to blow a fuse. Fruits like dragonfruit and mango are sometimes to thank, but so are obscure offerings like spirulina and butterfly pea flowers. Here's more about these colorful ingredients, why they shouldn't freak you out, and how to boost the saturation on your own at-home creations... if you so desire.

Also known as dragon fruit, pitaya is the name given to the fruit of several different cactus species. While the flesh of the Red Pitaya is white (its name denotes a ruby exterior), the Costa Rica Pitaya is blood red inside. Sweet and packing a slightly acidic tang, Costa Rica Pitaya fruit will turn your smoothie into a color explosion (and your kitchen into a crime scene). Find it fresh in markets like Whole Foods or frozen from companies like Pitaya Plus, available through Fresh Direct.

A ____ type of algae, this stuff grows in freshwater lakes, rivers, and ponds. It's often sold in powder form: Emerald-colored algae is strained, mashed to a paste, and given a spin in a drying vessel that pulverizes it into silky powder. It has a slightly savory, briny flavor, which for many is key to balancing super-sweet smoothies.

At least one version of the aforementioned spirulina powder is blue. (The color is supposedly thanks to a "proprietary extract"—meaning secret formula—created by supplement manufacturer E3Live.) It lends a dreamy, rich azure color.

You can blend magenta beets into a smoothie straight-up, or you can opt for a pure beetroot juice powder, which packs both color and the vegetable's characteristically earthy flavor. The latter—used in the smoothie bowl pictured above—imparts a luscious, pinkish color.

The same finely-ground green tea leaf powder that supercharges your green tea lattes and matcha-white chocolate sugar cookies can also turn your smoothies a lovely shade of lime. Its flavor is subtly grassy, but that's easily balanced with additions like banana and pineapple.

It's no surprise that this bright orange-yellow fruit zings up a smoothie bowl's color palette. The vibrant example above some gets some help, too, from golden carrots and nectarines.

The bright blue flowers of the butterfly pea, a vine native to Indonesia and Malaysia, are sometimes dried and then steeped in hot water to produce a striking sapphire "tea." You can use this tea to lightly color a smoothie or use a concentrate for a stronger, more cerulean shade. The flowers have only a negligible flavor of their own, so your smoothie's other ingredients can shine through without issue.

Sometimes called the Chilean wineberry, maqui berries are purple-black and have a flavor similar to blackberries. In recent years, they've been given the powder treatment, which can turn smoothies a gorgeous light shade of purple befitting of a Lisa Frank illustration.

Once you've conquered this neon cornucopia, you can start to mix and match, experimenting with ever-wilder takes on the rainbow smoothie bowl. Maybe something like this? Just remember: Smoothie bowls are for eating, not just Instagramming.