3D Printed Chocolate Will Soon Be A Thing At Hershey Chocolate World

3D-printed food is here to stay. While 3D printing companies are racing to get the first consumer food printers on shelves, you'll soon be able to experience printed food at Hershey Park. Hershey's Chocolate World in Pennsylvania announced that it will be installing a CocoJet 3D printer that will be able to print customized chocolate as part of a permanent exhibit this May. Consumers will be able to customize the shapes of their chocolate, and even create sweets made from their own likeness.  

According to AdAge, Hershey has been collaborating with 3D Systems on perfecting the technology, and, as of right now, the process for creating the customized, printed chocolates could take between a few minutes and an hour, depending on the complexity of the creation.

"This technology will be fundamental to the way people interact with food in the future," said Jeff Mundt, senior marketing manager of technology at Hershey's innovation center told AdAge."If we don't get on the edge and lead the way to edible food printing, somebody else will do it for us. And we're all about innovation."

The key here, said Mundt, is to get the 3D-printed chocolates to have the classic Hershey taste, which takes months of trial and error to perfect. For now, when the exhibit opens to guests in May, consumers will be able to make a custom, edible greeting card, or a wedding cake topper shaped like a Hershey kiss.