Skip to main content

Whether you like it or not, 3D printed food is on the way

whether like 3d printed food way chefjet
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Despite the fact that buying a bulky, expensive machine to print your food isn’t the most practical or attractive idea for most consumers, there are a handful of companies in the 3D printing space that are racing to get food printers into your kitchen and relieve you of your culinary duties. 

The latest such device was unveiled last week at CES, when South Carolina-based company 3D Systems pulled the curtain back on the ChefJet and ChefJet Pro – two new machines that the company is billing as “the world’s first and only professionally-certified, kitchen-ready 3D food printers.”

Unlike some of the 3D food printers we’ve come across in the past, this one is designed specifically to make candy and dessert. It also works in a slightly different manner. Rather than using pre-loaded tubes to squirt out the edible printing material, ChefJet printers use a granular materials binding technique to create custom-designed sweets.

Here’s how it works: First, a roller spreads a thin, even layer of fine-grain sugar onto the printing substrate. Then, the printing head sprays a narrow stream of water onto the sugar in whatever pattern you’ve programmed it to create. When the water mixes with the sugar, the sugar recrystallizes and bonds to neighboring grains, thus causing it to form a rigid shape when it dries. This process is then repeated, layer by layer, until the desired shape is created. 

Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 11.08.08 AM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Using this method, ChefJet can print sugar, chocolate, and candy in practically any design imaginable. The larger version, ChefJet Pro, is even equipped with a full palette of food colorings and dyes, which makes it possible to print some incredibly elaborate treats.

Cool? Most definitely. Practical? Not really, and 3D systems knows it. At $5,000 and $10,000 respectively, ChefJet and ChefJet Pro aren’t targeted at regular consumers, but instead geared toward professional confectioners, bakers, pastry chefs, and chocolatiers. 

The ChefJet food printers are set to go on sale in the latter part of 2014, so for the time being you’ll just have to stick to dropping those boring, normally-shaped sugar cubes into your coffee.

[image credit: pcpro]

Editors' Recommendations

Drew Prindle
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…
Everything announced at Amazon’s fall 2023 devices event
The Amazon Echo Show 8 at the Devices Event 2023.

The leaves are starting to turn color, and you know what that means: Amazon's annual fall Devices and Services event is upon us, bringing with it a veritable smorgasbord of product announcements, from new Fire TV streaming gadgets and Echo devices to Amazon smart home gear like Blink and Ring cameras, as well as Eero Wi-Fi routers and Alexa galore.

Taking place Wednesday, September 20, from Amazon's shiny new HQ2 second headquarters in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, the invite-only event was heavy on themes of generative AI and its use in the home, specifically how it relates to its own products. Dave Limp, Amazon's outgoing senior vice president of devices and services, delivered his last keynote, spilling the details on Alexa's most significant AI upgrade yet. Limp revealed its all-new advanced large language model (LLM), which will make the smart assistant more intuitive, conversational, and able to understand more complex nomenclature and nuances. And it's all integrated with Amazon's Alexa devices throughout your smart home.

Read more
New Ring and Blink cams bring extended range, battery life, 3D motion detection
Blink's Outdoor 4 flood light has built-in LED illumination.

Amazon's fall devices event not only brought AI features to Alexa and a host of new Echo devices; it also ushered a fresh batch of cameras and accessories from Ring and Blink, both of which are owned by Amazon. And if you've been looking for a low-cost outdoor camera equipped with powerful floodlights, today's your lucky day! Here's everything we know about the new hardware so far.
Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera

 

Read more
What an Alexa red ring means and how to fix it
Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) on table.

We’re conditioned to associate a red ring on our devices with bad news. If you suddenly see one on an Alexa device like an Echo, it’s easy to start worrying. It’s even worse when you try to use Alexa, but find that the voice assistant isn’t responding as it should.

Read more