Learn How to Make Your Own Ghostbusters Slime

It’s been more than 35 years since Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) got slimed from head to toe in 1984’s Ghostbusters, and the oozy ectoplasm is still as popular as ever (no doubt helped along by Nickelodeon’s frequent use of its own neon green goo).

Earlier this month, the official Ghostbusters YouTube channel released a video with directions for making some homemade slime, and it only requires four ingredients: water, liquid starch, white school glue, and food coloring.

While green is definitely the most traditional choice, Nerdist points out that pretty much every color under the rainbow is part of Ghostbusters canon: a river of pink slime appeared in the 1989 sequel, and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters featured many other hues. In short, nothing’s stopping you from concocting a polychromatic explosion of slime in your kitchen—provided your local craft store is well stocked with gallons of glue.

This slime isn’t edible, but the original stuff actually was. As special effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar told Cinefex, they used a mixture of water, food coloring, and two thickeners called methocel and separan. “It would not have any taste, but you could eat it,” he said. “The grade of methocel we used is also used in pie thickeners and salad dressings.”

For the slime river in Ghostbusters II, they added mica dust and mineral oil. “The mineral oil was important because it gave the river a greater sense of depth and mystery by creating very strange mercury-like shapes that raced downstream,” visual effects art director Harley Jessup told Cinefex.

According to Bustle, the recipe used in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot is different—and top secret. But director Paul Feig has revealed one digestible component: tapioca flour.

[h/t Nerdist]