Texture Modification of 3D-Printed Maltitol Candy by Changing Internal Design

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to show more diverse texture modifications by changing the material of a food 3D-printed structure conducted only with soft materials (in this case, potatoes and chocolate) to a hard material (in this case, maltitol here). However, unlike previous 3D-printed food materials, sweetener materials such as sucrose and maltitol are sensitively caramelized at a high melting temperature. As such, there is no commercialized printing equipment. Therefore, a printing process experiment was conducted first in this case. To do this, a high-temperature syringe pump-based extrusion device was designed, and process tests according to the temperature and environment were conducted. An assessment of the internal structural changes according to the infill patterns and infill percentages was conducted based on the acquired process conditions. The texture strength increased as the infill percentage increased. Depending on the infill patterns, the texture strength increased in the order of the Hilbert curve, honeycomb, and rectilinear samples here. As a result, a change in the texture strength was determined through a change in the internal structure of a hard food material using 3D printing, which showed a wider range of change than in conventional soft food materials.