Make your next Halloween meal a spooky one with glow noodles!

These glow noodles are reactive in UV light, and give off a spooky fluorescent orange glow. These noodles are simple to make, and can have a big effect whether they're for eating or as a prop for your Halloween event.

I had seen this as an animated GIF on reddit initially and didn't know it's origin. I was recently contacted by person who made the video, PhotoandGrime, and this is where this idea originated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtrN2dPyBWE&feature=youtu.be

Making your own is super easy, and only require 2 ingredients.
Ready to get scary? Let's make!

Step 1: Supplies

Rice noodles are perfect for glow noodles as they are already a translucent color, and accept pigmentation really well. Any type of Vermicelli or rice noodles will do.

To make the noodles glow I used vitamin B2 (riboflavin), which is readily available online or at your local drug store. Though vitamin B2 has a distinctive yellowy-orange colour in daylight, it really pops when viewed under blacklight. To see the results I picked up an inexpensive and powerful LED blacklight flashlight.

Step 2: Grind Vitamin B2

Vitamins can come in either pill or capsule form. Capsules can be easily opened up and the contents dumped out, but pills will need to be crushed into a fine powder.

I used a mortar and pestle to grind up my vitamins, then took the opportunity to shine a UV light on them to test the reaction.

Looks good! Time to make some noodles.

Step 3: Boil Water + Add Vitamin B2

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then mix in the powdered vitamin B2, the water should turn a bright orange color. Mix the vitamins into the water so there are no lumps.

Step 4: Add Noodles

Add rice noodles to the boiling vitamin water. Rice noodles don't take very long to cook, so keep an eye on them.

Just to show how receptive rice noodles are to pigmentation, just dipping the end of the noodles into the water turned them bright orange. Neat!

Step 5: Test, Then Drain Noodles

Rice noodles don't take very long to cook. I pulled a few noodles and tested them, when they were al dente the noodles were removed from the heat and drained.

Step 6: Here's a Comparison

Just for fun, here's a comparison between a regular rice noodle and a vitamin cooked rice noodle.

Step 7: Serve!

Your glow noodles are ready to be served up. They work great as a prop for your spooky Halloween event, or can be eaten as part of a themed meal. If you plan on eating these noodles I recommend serving them with a sauce, since the vitamin B2 leaves a slightly bitter taste. It's not terrible, just not something to eat plain.