Edible Ink Recipes?

[samsen]

Hi,

 

I purchased a Roller Ball pen that has been ED [Eye-Dropper] converted. I would like to use a truly non-toxic (to humans) ink to write onto rice paper. (i.e. that then could then be placed onto cakes). While food coloring may be FDA approved, that does not mean that it is necessarily non-toxic to human beings. My preliminary research indicates that vegetable oils (i.e soy) are often used as ink bases.

 

Does anyone know of or have a recipe that uses vegetable oils and concentrated fruit juice to make a passable ink? An ink that would work in a flow pen or roller ball on rice paper?

 

Thanks

 

Samsen

[*david*]

Does it matter if it has a flavour? What about just writing with very strong coffee, for instance?

Or water in which beets have been boiled?

 

You might not need oil - strongly coloured water might work. If it flows too fast, you could thicken it with starch or something.

[amh210]

Very Red Wine? Possibly concentrated by boiling off the water?

 

The stains never seem to come out of the white tablecloth, maybe it would do OK on rice paper.

 

Soya sauce ought to leave a nice brown line as well.

[*david*]

One convenient thing about writing on food is that archival permanence is not necessary.

[tonydacrow]

As I've written in a previous post, you can make a very good ink out of vin cotto. I.e, cooked wine. Take a gallon of cheap, red wine (about $8 USD) and boil it down to about 1 cup. It creates a nice, antique red/brown color ink. It is acidic, however, so you should clean it out immediately after use. You can also buffer it with baking soda. That produces a very nice olive/green colored ink that is not acidic. It is, however, rather salty.

 

See this thread here.

[samsen]

Thanks Tony!

 

I am going to follow your instructions (including the neutralizing using Baking Soda), and let you know how it works out.

 

Again thanks again for sharing!

 

 

 

One further question I have is whether including vegetable oil of any particular kind, of any amount would provide any benefit?

 

And, what is the reason that vegetable oils are used at all in the manufacture of some commercial inks?

 

Samsen

[tonydacrow]

No, Samsen, stay away from oil of any kind in fountain pens.

 

The reasons commercial inks are made of oil are (1) to increase viscosity so that they can be used, for instance, in offset presses and/or (2) to provide a degree of water resistance and/or (3) to write on oleophilic surfaces. Using oil will not be kind to a fountain pen. However, if you're using a brush or dip pen it should be fine.

 

Edit: Sorry but I didn't pay close enough attention to your original post. You're using a roller ball. I don't think oil will harm a roller ball but you probably don't need to use it. For instance, if you need more viscosity in the Vin Cotto, just boil it down a little more.

Edited August 28, 2006 by tonydacrow

[Kaptenmork]

This ink can be eaten, its used by religious men in asia who write/draw something on a piece of paper and then you eat it.

I inherited two bottles.

 

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7528/sam1354tg.jpg

[Fabienne]

Would it feather badly on rice paper?

[Kaptenmork]

They use very thin paper for this, it looks like yellow biblepaper and it doesent feather at all.

 

The brand of one of the bottles is 'Double Coin Vermilion Ink'.

[snoww]

Hmmm boiled red wine idea sounds good but the acidity and staining might produce issues!

[JeanManuel]

I would suggest blueberry juice And otherwise the sap from banana trees is a good brown dye (warning - stains clothes) it reveals after drying.

I would suspect that cochenille red "E120" aka "carminic acid", if you don't mind the origin (crushed insects) , is very safe to eat It's a beautiful shade, similar to the edible monk ink above. The advantage is that it is available in isolated form and you won't have sugar, etc.. in your pen.

[JeanManuel]

*is that a beetle leg stuck in my FP nib?*

[fiberdrunk]

I make pokeberry ink (somewhat toxic) but you can substitute any berry. This recipe is quite acidic, though, and I really don't know how it'd behave in a rollerball. I've used it in a Platinum Preppy Marker, but get best results with a dip pen (the ink is less vibrant in the Marker than a dip pen). In fact, after about 3 days in the Marker, it ate the pen and leaked right out the feed section! So if you use it in a pen, flush it immediately after your writing session. Don't leave it in the pen. And I'd recommend a disposable pen.

 

 

Berry Ink

 

2/3 cup ripe (or frozen, thawed) berries

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

 

Crush the berries through a fine-mesh strainer. I use a wooden pestle wrapped in 3 layers of Saran Wrap to keep the juice from staining the pestle. I mash the pestle against the berries while in the strainer, collecting the juice in a bowl underneath. Discard the solids. Add the salt and vinegar (I've used both raw apple cider vinegar and distilled white vinegar before). Mix well. The ink will be foamy at first, but will go down within an hour or less. Store in a sealed amber glass jar. Yields about 3 ounces of ink.

 

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6132/6034316178_4356100709_b.jpg

 

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6080/6034044856_0e7ea0c1f5_b.jpg

Edited February 29, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[professionaldilettante]

They use very thin paper for this, it looks like yellow biblepaper and it doesent feather at all.

 

The brand of one of the bottles is 'Double Coin Vermilion Ink'.

Did you know? Vermillion is mercury sulfide (HgS). I know that some Chinese emperors, would eat this in hopes of achieving immortality. However, it only made them crazy with mercury poisoning. Sure, it's edible. But do you know what's in it to minimize your own risks? I say this because everything in life has a risk. You just need to know what you are getting yourself into.