We’ve seen some less-than-traditional flavors of ice cream recently. Remember the Facebook-flavored ice cream out of Croatia? But things just got a lot weirder with an ice cream that actually glows in the dark.

Lick Me I’m Delicious, a company that invented something called a portable nitro ice cream parlor in Britain, has come up with a way to make glow-in-the-dark ice cream. Charlie Harry Francis, an award-winning food inventor behind the company, came up with the idea.

“But what on earth is it???” writes Francis on the company blog. “It’s glow-in-the-dark jellyfish ice cream using calcium activated proteins that react when they are agitated, or to put it in a nonscience-y way, it glows when you lick it.”

Francis worked with a scientist from China who figured out a way to synthesize the luminescence protein found in jellyfish. He used it to make the ice cream give off a neon green glow when your tongue makes contact with the icy substance.


A scoop of the glowing ice cream costs about £140, or $225.22. And regarding the question of whether it’s safe to eat, Francis writes, “Well, I tried some and I don’t seem to be glowing anywhere, so we’ll go with a yes for now.”

Francis has also made a glow-in-the-dark gin and tonic sorbet using a substance called quinine, which a quick dictionary search revealed is a drug made from tree bark that is often used to treat malaria.

What’s next for the ice cream scientist? An invisible ice cream. Francis is asking any scientists or magicians who think they can help to please get in touch.

Like wacky food news? Me too. Follow me on Twitter: @Jenn_Harris_


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