Dovetailed introduces '3D fruit printer'

In the past, we have witnessed a variety of foods created from 3D printing technology such as chocolate, sugar pellets and even 3D printed pizza. And to demonstrate the seemingly endless possibilities of 3D printing technology, Dovetailed, a Cambridge-based design firm, has successfully developed a 3D printer capable of "printing fruits" with shapes. 3-dimensional in space.

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The machine named 3D Fruit Printer is equipped with spherification culinary techniques . This is a technique to convert liquid food into a colloidal sphere like fish eggs or round jelly particles. The first spherification technique was invented by the Uniliver Group in the 1950s and is now widely used in many food companies around the world.

First, the raw material is juice that will be mixed with alginic acid. Next, the mixture will be dripped into a tank containing cold calcium chloride solution. At that time, the chemical reaction will form the final product, a glossy, transparent shell that surrounds the drop of juice . This is the "fruit pellets" produced by the printer and of course it is possible to eat normally. According to information from the developer, the whole process only takes 1 second.

In fact, the 3D Fruit Printer is a machine that mixes and forms fruit juices rather than printing a fruit similar to reality. Instead of creating an orange or an apple with a full shell, grain and shape like the natural one, the machine will create concentrated apple juice or orange juice. Another interesting feature of the machine is that users can mix a variety of fruits to create a new "fruit" with taste at will.

Vaiva Kalnikaitė, the founder of Dovetailed company, said: "Our 3D technology fruit printer can not only be used by professional chefs but also applicable in all families. "We hope the machine will enhance and expand everyone's culinary experience to a new level."

The 3D fruit printer was introduced at the TechFoodHack food creation festival that took place on May 24 in Cambridge, England. This is an annual event co-organized by Dovetailed and Microsoft Research to seek new innovations in the application of digital technology to the processing of dishes.