Researchers have investigated a new method of 3D food printing.
“3DFP” is an acronym I hadn’t seen previously, although food 3D printing has been around for quite a long time. In almost all methods, 3DFP involves extruding a paste of edible material to build up food products. Typical ingredients have been vegetable or meat pastes.
3DFP technology hasn’t caught on in spite of its long existence. It is usually a slow process, with traditional preparation methods far faster. There are few unique capabilities in 3DFP that might drive chefs towards the technology.
That might change with this new research from the Netherlands.
The researchers investigated the liquid rope coiling effect (LRC). This is a phenomenon that occurs when a viscous liquid stream falls from a height and coils upon impact with a surface, curving into a coil. We’ve all seen this effect on FFF 3D printers when an extrusion test occurs.
The research looked into how LRC could be leveraged with 3DFP. Could new food geometries and other properties be produced?
They used a custom-built syringe-powered 3DFP device, with materials being pea paste, carrot paste, and cookie dough. They investigated LRC by varying the extrusion height and flow rate (temperature isn’t a thing in 3DFP).
They found that higher nozzle heights (>3 cm) resulted in stable, controlled coiling but reached a limit where further height increases did not significantly affect coil size. In addition, increasing the flow rate produced denser coils and higher porosity, enabling the design of porous food structures.
The porosity manifested in both gaps between extrusions and also air pockets within the extrusions. They found that food item hardness decreased with increased porosity, but brittleness was not affected by porosity.
The new LRC approach enables customized food textures for personalized nutrition, special dietary needs, and innovative sensory experiences. The researchers expect future work will explore sensory testing and consumer preferences to align printed food textures with user expectations.
Via ArXiv
