If you've been wishing your ice cream had a bit of character to it, Lick Me I'm Delicious ice cream company founder, Charlie Francis, may have a solution, an ice cream creation that glows in the dark, FOX News reports.
The glow-in-the-dark ice cream gets its otherwordly effect from "specially extracted" jellyfish proteins, and the more you lick it, the more the calcium-activated proteins interact with pH levels on the human tongue, and the brighter it gets.
"It is incredible stuff but still at very early days in terms of production," Francis told the UK Metro. "The protein we are using in the ice cream reacts with your tongue at neutral pH. So as your mouth warms up the protein it will raise the pH level and the ice cream will glow."
"Naturally we wanted to have a go with some of the stuff, so we ordered some, played around and eventually made this," Francis wrote on his blog for his company website, along with a spooky of photo of himself with his invention. "We've also made a non-jellyfish version using quinine from tonic to make a glow in the UV dark gin and tonic sorbet which is pretty neat and can be ordered from all good Lick Me I'm Delicious event contraptions."
And while the unique treat is tempting, it doesn't come cheap, costing about $220 per scoop. However, the non-jellyfish version is reportedly much more affordable.
As for whether or not the jelly fish protein is safe, Francis wrote, "Well I tried some and I don't seem to be glowing anywhere, so we'll go with a yes for now."
Francis worked with a Chinese scientist to "synthesise the luminescence protein from jellyfish," as he writes, and next, he plans on creating invisible ice cream, using his blog to (perhaps jokingly) scout for magicians and scientists that would be willing to help out. Other Lick Me Delicious creations include ice creams made with chili, lamb and bee.
Photo courtesy of Lick Me I'm Delicious.
