Food printing is getting sweeter every day. And, while only a few food printers are on the market, there are new products and companies being made public on a regular basis. The most recent comes from the home of Hansel and Gretel, where the third largest German candy maker, Katjes, has begun 3D printing gummies.
With a device they’re calling the Magic Candy Factory, Katjes is 3D printing gummy treats at their Grün-Ohr café in Berlin. Like the majority of food printers, the Magic Candy Factory relies on extrusion technology, squirting viscous food pastes out of a syringe layer by layer. The gummies are gluten- and lactose-free and use no animal gelatin to produce the candy treats. Created by Katjes earlier this year with Melissa Snover, founder of organic candy brand”Goody Good Stuff”, the printer only takes about 5 minutes to fabricate a 10 gram treat.
Currently, Katjes has seven flavors developed in seven colors, but the firm plans on concocting more in the future. To coincide with the release of the device, Katjes will be launching a website at MagicCandyFactory.com where people will be able to suggest their own ideas for shapes that they hope to see designed for the gummy printer.
A number of big companies, including Hershey and Barilla, are working on food printing technology, while 3D printer manufacturers and startups are launching their own food printers for consumer and professional use. The foods printed by these machines aren’t always the prettiest, but are we starting to see the actual beginnings of the food printing market? Or is this more marketing sugar designed to lure investors and customers into the 3D printing hype oven? Like the original German version of Hansel and Gretel, we may not know until we’re already being devoured by witches. Until then, you can see the Magic Candy Factory, or as I prefer to call it the “magischen Süßigkeitenfabrik”, in action below:
