Soft, gooey 3D-printed cheese developed

Scientists have successfully created 3D-printed cheese that is softer, springier and more fluid when melted than processed varieties.

Scientists conducted a series of tests evaluating the texture, resilience and "meltability," of 3D-printed cheese.

"The inspiration for the investigation was a question posed by a cheese manufacturer, who wondered how cheese might be used as a raw material in kitchens that are likely to be equipped with 3D printers in the not-so-distant future," said Alan Kelly, a professor at University College Cork in Ireland.

"It was a very speculative question which made me very curious," Kelly said.

3D-printing cheese could provide valuable insight for engineers who are still developing materials for 3D printing, which need to be fluid enough to flow through a nozzle but also capable of settling into "a buildable shape and structure," he said.
 

The scientists melted processed cheese at 75 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes, and then ran it through a 3D printer using two different extrusion rates.

They compared the 3D-printed results to processed cheese that had been melted and then cooled in a cylinder and to processed cheese that was unchanged from its original solid state, 'Live Science' reported.

Cheese that was 3D printed was 45 per cent to 49 per cent softer than the untreated processed cheese, researchers said.

They also discovered that 3D-printed cheese was a little darker in colour, a bit springier and more fluid when melted, though it melted at about the same temperature as untreated cheese, researchers said.