While 3D printing for food is nothing new, researchers have developed a novel innovation in the technology and are now experimenting with one of the most beloved desserts: Cheesecake. Would you be willing to try it?
Researchers develop innovation in 3D food printing
Researchers are continually pushing the boundaries of 3D printing to create just about everything, as a 3D rocket launch recently proved, and using 3D for food is nothing new, but researchers have created something out of Star Trek.
Researchers from Columbia University came up with a 7-ingredient vegan cheesecake and used laser technology to cook the ingredients while also assembling the desert using a 3D printing machine, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal NPJ Science of Food.
The innovation by the Columbia researchers was using lasers to cook the food as it was printed.
“The utilization of lasers may be an important development because the heat they provide can prompt a phase change from paste to solid,” Kyle von Hasseln, CEO of Sugar Lab and Currant 3D, told CNN. “This phase change is critical to traditional baking, of course — think of setting a souffle.”
The researchers said their experiment was designed to develop steps and practical uses for 3D printing in mechanically assembled food.
The machines necessary for creating and baking a 3D printed dessert were already in existence in Columbia engineering’s New York laboratory.
However, what does not exist is “cookbooks” for giving instructions on how to apply the technology in creating 3D food.
Engineers working to develop recipe and instruction book
“There needs to be a place where you can download recipes, create your own recipes, and get some inspiration for what you can actually do with this machine in order for it to really take off in a big way,” said Dr. Jonathan Blutinger, a co-author of the study and a mechanical engineer and postdoctoral researcher at Columbia Engineering’s Creative Machines Lab.
Take a look: Would you eat 3D printed food?
The idea of using 3D printing for food is nothing new. Two years ago, a 3D printer was used to create a vegan steak that tastes like real meat, as seen in this video by DW Food.
Scientists have been using 3D printers to create medicine and even human organs, Gizmodo reported. The first experiments with food and 3D printing began in 2007, with the first commercially available 3D printer for chocolate arriving in 2012.
“There’s perhaps a stigma associated with this word [3D printing],” Dr. Blutinger told CNN. “Usually with printing you think of an industrial process. [But] it’s important to realize that this is no different than cooking normally except instead of chopping the ingredients up and everything like that, the machine is basically just assembling it in paste form.”
A video of the layered cheesecake was posted by 11 Alive News. Does this dessert look appetizing to you? Would you be willing to try it?
