14 DAY TRIAL // The folks at the MIT managed to make an ice cream 3D printer not long ago, but their model had the problem that the ice cream shapes tended to melt into soft goo while the process was going on.
Now, there is another ice cream 3D printer, one that was made by a Barcelona-based research group called Robots In Gastronomy. Luis E. Fraguada is the one overseeing the group.
The new ice cream 3D printer is a lot better at its job that the MIT one, probably because the printer itself is actually not a new device, unlike the former.
Called FoodForm, the printer can make things out of fresh honey, cream cheese, cake dough, pasta, cookie dough, eggs, and even fresh fruit/vegetable puree. Ice Cream was added to the list just for completion's sake.
They had to implement a new process for the ice cream printing to be possible, but they eventually found a way that worked: the machine cools a plate to -34°C / -29.2°F, which causes the ice cream to freeze as soon as it is extruded. Hence why the cream doesn't melt. The plate (Anti-Griddle) actually came from Cocktail Lab.
Clearly, this isn't an instance where ice cream is not, in fact, ice cream, as was proven to be the case for this Walmart “ice cream” that doesn't melt in the sun.
For comparison, the MIT machine sprays the ice cream with liquid nitrogen, but because the plate itself isn't cold, the shapes melt despite that.
FoodForm makes a 3D printed ice cream star (3 Images)
