Formation and Texture Analysis of Extrusion-Based 3D Printed Foods Using Nixtamalized Corn and Chickpea Flours: Effect of Cooking Process

Extrusion-based three-dimensional (3D) food printing (3DFP) enhances the customization of 3D-printed foods by using multiple food pastes. Post-printing processes like baking are usually necessary and significantly impact the stability of the 3D-printed foods. This study aimed to produce multi-material 3D-printed foods using nixtamalized corn dough and chickpea paste (CP) in extrusion-based 3DFP and to study the effect of post-printing processes (water oven cooking and steam cooking) and the type of material used (single- or multi-material) on the final appearance, weight, size, and texture of the 3D-printed foods. Multi-material 3D-printed foods were successfully produced using extrusion-based 3DFP. Steam-cooked 3D-printed foods cooked uniformly and had a better appearance, as they did not develop surface cracks compared to water oven-cooked foods. Water-oven cooked foods experienced a greater weight loss of 35.6%, and higher height and length reduction of 1.5% and 8.4%, respectively. Steam-cooked multi-material 3D-printed foods were harder at 40% of strain, with force values of 66.9 and 46.3 N for water-oven cooked foods. Post-printing processes, as well as the presence of CP in the middle of the 3D-printed foods, influenced their final appearance, weight, size, and texture. This study offers interesting findings for the innovative design of chickpea- and corn-based multi-material 3D-printed foods.