Researchers at the Cornell Creative Machines Lab has produced its latest printer, the Fab@Home, following experiments with 3D food printers.
The device uses edible “inks” and digital blueprints to create precise shapes from soft foods including scallops and sugar.
The technology is still in a nascent stage and so far only produces raw food, but “it is conceivable that a printer would also cook the material as it prints”, commented Hod Lipson, head of the Cornell Lab.
Other compatible ingredients include frosting, peanut butter and pesto, which are poured into a print head and pumped via syringes to form an intricate design as specified by the digital blueprints.
The printer is also suggested as having applications in making food more attractive.
Jeffrey Lipton, a mechanical engineering PhD student, commented: “If you gave kids peas that didn’t look like peas and said they were a space shuttle, they’re much more apt to eat them because it’s now playtime. It’s a way of introducing nutrition to kids, sort of through trickery.
“It could be a novelty in a high-end restaurant but it could also, in the longer term, be an appliance not unlike the bread maker, much more sophisticated but as easy to use.”
Although he concludes on the metaphysical properties of his endeavour: “Does the ability to completely control the geometry change the taste? It’s a philosophical question about the aesthetics of food.”
The technology behind 3D printing has recently undergone steady advances, including flight-capable drones and 3D printing utilising the power of the sun.