Glowing Halloween Cocktails

Have you ever dreamed about drinking green eggs, an actual radioactive shot (don't worry it's harmless) or frog spawn? Okay probably not, but if you have or you just dream about spooking your friends, this is the instructable for you.

These cocktails do not only look good (or gross however you see it ;-)) in normal light, but also glow under UV light.

Finding fluorescent food additives is not simple, because most of them either really expensive (e,g, phycocyanin) or annoying to extract (e.g. chlorophyll (the extraction works best with oil and I'm just not a big fan of oily cocktails...)). That's why we decided to stick with the common known ones: quinine (can be found in Tonic Water) and vitamin B2 (also known as riboflavin).

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Green Eggs and Ham Cocktail

Green Eggs and Ham is a best-selling book by Dr. Seuss and who doesn't know it should certainly read it. I had this idea a long time in my head an finally got around making it.

What you need:

8 cl Milk
2 cl Licor 43
4 cl Almond syrup
2 g Sodium Alginate (e.g. in the apothecary or on amazon)
1/2 tsp Calcium Lactate (e.g. in the apothecary or on amazon)
2 tbsp Sugar
Mango
Apple (I know that there is a pineapple in the picture, but an apple works better)
Green Food colouring (Check it, if it says Riboflavin or E101 on the back you won't need any extra vitamin B2 to make the cocktail glow. Else you will need to buy some)

Instructions:

Start by dissolving the sodium alginate in 300 ml of water, the best way to do so is in a blender. Set it aside (you will have to wait until all the bubbles are gone).
In the meanwhile cut the Mango into fine cubes. Mix it with 2 tbsp of sugar, a few drops of green food colouring and half a teaspoon of calcium lactate and blend the mixture.
Use a tablespoon and carefully scoop the mango mixture into the sodium alginate bath. Put a glass with water next to it, to rinse your blob later. Leave your mixture for about 4 minutes in the bath, then place it into your glass with water.
For the cocktail mix the Licor 43, the milk and the sirup and carefully place your "egg yolk" into the mixture.
After playing around a bit with different fruits as ham, we found out, that the best fit is actually an apple slice dyed with green food colouring.