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A novel 3D printable food construct, comprising of rice flour (RF), jaggery (J), and water (W) are being investigated for an extrusion‐based 3D food printer. The effect of the constituents on the rheological properties, textural properties, and printability of 20 different combinations were investigated and two combinations of R3 and R5 were found to be best printable based on their shape retention after printing. To determine the best combination between R3 and R5 steaming was done as post‐processing and R5 was found to have better dimensional accuracy than R3. Also, R5 required lesser extrusion force compared to R3. The rheological and textural parameters of the best combination R5 (RF: 85.95 g, J: 33.04 g, W: 114.93 g) are hardness: 254.41 g, adhesiveness: −527.05 g‐sec, firmness: 3,835.66 g, G′: 9,066.67 Pa, G″: 1,708.33 Pa, phase angle: 10.68°, G*: 9,226.2 Pa, flow stress (FS): 138.07 Pa, yield stress: 8.06 Pa. Mathematical model for G′, G″, and FS with R2 .91, .83, and .99, respectively, are proposed. Practical applications The developed construct can be used as a healthy 3D printing construct by new startups as 3D printing is gaining importance day by day. The complete rheological and texture properties of the best printable construct are studied in detail which helps in characterizing the sample and mathematical models are proposed for G′, G″, and flow stress. This work proposes the use of jaggery as a healthy alternative to sugar as many commercial 3D printed objects are based on sugar. Since most of the printing has been reported with some sort of additives, this work proves the possibility of using traditional food materials without additives for printing.

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A passive flat plate collector solar dryer (FPC-SD) was designed and fabricated for drying of agricultural products. It has drying capacity of 7.5 kg, drying chamber cross sectional area of 0.74 m × 0.58 m, collector aspect ratio 2, collector depth of 0.25 m and hence volume of 0.5 m 3. Total pressure drop across drying bed ΔP T was 1.29 kg/m 2. The difference between the dryer inlet and ambient temperature was recorded for certain days and was 24.6 C at 1.30 p.m. with average solar insolation of 882.35 W/m 2. Performance of FPC-SD was evaluated by drying mushroom under sun drying and passive FPC solar dryer. The moisture ratio of the samples reached zero in 33 hr for sun drying while 21 hr for FPC-SD. Solar drying took 36.36% lesser time than

Protein‐enriched 3D printing material was formulated by incorporating pea protein isolate (10%) with refined flour as a composite to investigate its suitability for an extrusion‐based 3D food printer. The experiment was conducted at compositions viz., composite flour (30–40 g), butter (25–35 g), and water (10–20 g) to identify the best formulation. Central Composite Rotational Design (CCRD) was used to investigate the effect on textural, rheological characteristics, and printable stability of the food matrices. Rheological properties of dough comprising of flow stress, storage modulus (G′), and loss modulus (G″) are used for multiple regression analysis. The best formulated 3D food matrix was selected based on the better printable stability and found to be 30, 30, and 15 g of composite flour, butter, and water, respectively. The hardness, adhesiveness, flow stress, G′, and G″ of the best formulated 3D food matrix were found to be 235.73 N, −944.73 N, 416.55, 23,350, and 6,920 Pa, respectively. Practical applications The work reported in the paper will serve as a potential source for the development of a protein‐rich 3D printable food matrix. This is a step forward in the direction of customized nutrition requirements and digital gastronomy. It might be used for the bakery industry, looking for value addition, fortification, and making nutrition‐rich cookie, with complex 3D structure. The paper will assist in the selection of the additives which will help in shape retention, good printability, desired textural, and rheological properties. The work reported is based on the extrusion‐based 3D food printer which is nowadays used in restaurants, bakeries, and food outlets, so this will be useful for them.