Tiny edible forest grows in 3D printed shell

Hot off the back of our beautiful edible terrarium recipe there's another edible terrarium-style garden that is making waves on social media.

It's a 3D printed basket that sprouts its own mushrooms and flora to grow a tiny edible eco system in just a few days. The self-growing, miniature edible garden is reported to be both healthy and tasty – not to mention environmentally friendly (in that it reduces your agricultural footprint and food miles). The project, titled Edible Growth, is the work of Chloe Rutzerveld and was originally presented at Dutch Design Week back in 2014. 

It's still in development, but the little basket made waves on social media in February 2015 in the viral clip by Dezeen, and has been re-trending again for both its innovation and looks. 
3D printing food isn't a new thing, there's plenty out there on what you can print to eat and how 3D printing can be applied to the food industry – but so far there's nothing quite so pretty as the Edible Growth project.

The outer basket can be made of a number of different items – including dough or pasta – and includes spores, yeast and seeds. The paste for the shell is then printed into a biscuit-like basket and filled with an agar nutrient agent to encourage the growth of the living materials. In just a few short days, mushrooms (the right kind of fungus) and tiny shoots begin to grow, creating a magically beautiful, freshly grown, living snack, with a flavour that continues to develop as it grows.

Now that puts a whole new spin on field-to-fork dining.