Fluorescent Oil (that You Can Eat!)

Good morning.

Here is an easy recipe to make some fluorescent oil; in the picture you can see some toast made with that oil, they glows under an U.V. light!

Appetizer for a disco party? Support for a STEM lesson? I don't know if it can have an utility, I just found it funny and curious; it's easy to do, either.

The principle is simple: turmeric root, a strongly coloured spice, contains a fluorescent substance ('curcumin', if I don't go wrong) that is soluble in oils; we just have to put some turmeric root powder in some oil and wait a few days, it's the same principle for Chili pepper spicy oil that is often used on pizzas.

1. some edible oil; I used sunflower or rapeseed oil, both were good; but I imagine that it works well with others oils.
2. turmeric root powder (also said "curcuma"); some ready-to-use spice blend, like curry, often contains curcuma (and they often have a good taste).
3. an empty and clean bottle, with its cork; I used a 250 ml one (~8 fl.oz. or 1/2 pint).

In the bottle, put about 2 tablespoons of turmeric powder and fill about 3/4 of the volume with your favourite oil; shake well, then leave rest for some days;

At the beginning, shake it once a day; if the powder is packed at the bottom of the bottle, you can use a chopstick to break the powder lump and re-diffuse it in the oil;

After a few days, the oil begin to take a strange highlighter-like colour; maybe not very reassuring, but it's a good sign.

When the oil has reach a good fluorescent colour, try to spread it on a bread slice (dark coloured bread is better, fluorescent light will have more contrast).

In the pictures above, I used it on some oven-cooked eggplant slices: in the left one, the picture is taken under normal daylight (the oil is almost invisible), the other one under U.V. light (shining!).

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That's it, thank you for reading.

And, once again, thanks to Instructables for this free space.

Have a good day !