You Can Grow A Garden Inside These 3D Printed Snacks

3D printed foods are certainly changing the future landscape of our eating habits, from  print-out pizzas to soft foods for the elderly available at the push of a button. Dutch food designer Chloé Rutzerveld has come up with a concept she calls Edible Growth: 3D printed biscuits from which mushrooms and sprouts can be grown. These snacks are both healthy and sustainable. The project is being developed in collaboration with Eindhoven University of Technology  research organization TNO.

The 3D printed biscuits are filled with agar, a jelly-like substance which allows the seeds and spores to sprout from the center of the biscuit. Within five days, the plants and fungi mature and the yeast ferments the solid inside into a liquid. Rutzerveld claims the resulting snack is fresh, delicious, and nutritious.

"A lot of people think industrialized production methods are unnatural or unhealthy," Rutzerveld tells Dezeen, an architectural and design magazine. "I want to show that it doesn't have to be the case. You can really see that it's natural. It's actually really healthy and sustainable at the same time."

Rutzerveld estimates that it will be at least eight to 10 years before the products are ready for commercial consumption.