Making Chocolate Holograms Is Possible and They’re Dazzling

Electromechanical engineer and YouTuber, Ben Krasnow, has made holographic chocolates in one of his latest videos, and they are awe-inspiring. Not only are the holographic chocolates novel—and oh so mesmerizing—but the process to make them is quite complex. Even if Krasnow makes it seem like anybody with a nickel plating machine in their garage could pull it off.

Krasnow posted the video to his YouTube channel, Applied Sciences, noting that dyes nor inks were required to create the holographic chocolates. Instead, Krasnow simply had to take a hologram from a commercial sticker and turn it into a mold for chocolate. A mold that allows light to play on the surface of confections that are just as delicious to look at as they (probably) are to eat.

Krasnow is able to generate holographic images on these pieces of chocolate without the use of any dyes or inks because a hologram doesn’t require them. This is because a hologram is a photographic recording of a light field, rather than an image formed by a lens. I.e. you get a hologram by carving out a particular three-dimensional pattern on a medium’s surface. This is what we call a “diffraction grating.”

These holographic chocolates are delicious and mesmerizing.

A 3D hologram encoded into chocolate. Applied Sciences

This diffraction grating causes the light that hits it to split apart into separate beams traveling in different directions. This is how one achieves the variation in wavelengths, and thusly colors of light. In turn, the interference pattern in the chocolate, when suitably lit, diffracts light into whatever image was used to create it.

These holographic chocolates are delicious and mesmerizing.

The hologram surface mold as seen through an electron microscope. Applied Sciences

As far as actually making one of these both light- and mind-bending chocolatey treats, the task, again, seems far more difficult than the normal DIY culinary project. But anybody who does manage to make them: please make sure and sell them. We have some bills with holograms on them we can gave you in return.

What do you think about these holographic chocolates? Are you ready to eat a big box of these chocolate charms, or would you just stare at them forever? Let us know in the comments!

Feature image: Applied Science 

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