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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Next-Gen Cooking

New Weber Connect Hub Turns any Grill into a Smart Grill

Barbeque brand Weber and June, maker of the June smart oven, today introduced the Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub, a connected device that allows users to bring smart functionality to the grill they already have.

The Hub is a small device that sits outside any grill. There are four inputs on the Hub which you can use for food probes and to monitor the internal temperature of what you’re cooking. There’s also an external thermometer to measure the ambient cooking temperature inside the grill.

The Hub wirelessly displays these readings and communicates them back to the Weber Connect mobile app, powered by the June OS, which provides guidance on grill set up, when to flip food and when to take it off the grill.

This is the second public product collaboration between Weber and June. Back in November the two companies announced the SmokeFire connected wood pellet grill that also uses the Weber Connect app to guide your grilling. The Smokefire costs roughly a thousand bucks and ships early this year.

If it works as advertised, the Weber Smart Grilling Hub will be able to turn your existing grill into a smart one for $130 when it comes out in “early 2020.” While that’s less expensive than a Smokefire grill, the Hub won’t be able to do all the things the Smokefire does, like automatically adjusting the temperature or keeping itself at a precise temperature.

I’ve been using the Traeger WiFi connected Pro pellet grill over the holidays and I can say firsthand that having the ability to monitor and control the grill remotely from a phone is a game-changer for novice grillers like myself. The one thing lacking in the Traeger, however, is the app design, which can be a bit clunky. As a happy June Oven owner, I’m excited to see what kind of design sensibilities June will bring to Weber’s grilling experience.

Whirlpool’s Yummly Introduces Wireless Smart Thermometer

Yummly, the digital recipe and cooking platform acquired by Whirlpool, announced the new Yummly Smart Thermometer at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today.

The wireless thermometer keeps track of both internal food temperature and ambient cooking temperatures, and can be monitored via an accompanying app that sends alerts when the food is ready.

At first, this sounds a lot like the Meater smart thermometer. Smart thermometers can actually be pretty great because they allow you to remotely monitor your cooking without opening your oven and letting all the heat out.

But what differentiates Yummly’s Smart Thermometer from Meater and others is its ability to integrate with both the Whirlpool and Yummly ecosystems. So if a person is cooking from a Yummly recipe, the Yummly Thermometer will know what step the user is on and be able to communicate with a Whirlpool oven to adjust the temperature or switch from roasting to broiling automatically. According to the press release, this type of integration will be available in late 2020.

The Yummly Smart Thermometer also seems to be helping Yummly create something akin to a deconstructed June Oven. The Yummly mobile app can be used to recognized ingredients and suggest recipes. Those recipes can be communicated to a compatible Whirlpool oven and the thermometer can talk with the oven to create an automated cook program. While this requires a number of different pieces to create a smart oven, it also means you don’t have to take up countertop space with an additional cooking appliance.

The Yummly Smart Thermometer will be on display at CES this week, and available for purchase in early 2020 with an MSRP of $129.

Here’s Your Handy CES 2020 Food and Kitchen Tech Preview & Walking Guide

Heading to CES?

Make sure to wear comfortable shoes, bring some Tylenol, and get ready for lots of food and cooking tech!

Having gone to the world’s biggest consumer tech show for well over a decade, I’ve gotten pretty good at finding new products that are of interest to me. That said, even for someone like myself who’s spent more than his fair share of shoe leather getting around the ugly carpets of Vegas, finding the latest in food tech has always been something of a challenge at a show where entertainment, robotics and car tech news usually steal most of the headlines.

The good news is that all started to change last year with the debut of Impossible Burger 2.0, and, based on my pre-show planning over the past couple of weeks, I expect to see a whole bunch of food and kitchen tech news at this year’s CES.

I figured I’d share some of my research by putting together a guide to what’s going on in food tech and smart kitchen at CES 2020 to help you make the most of your time in Vegas. I’ve even added booth numbers for most of the products to help you get there.

During the next few days, I’d also suggest you check back in here at The Spoon for stories, videos and interviews from The Spoon editor team. And, if you plan on making foodtech news at CES with a cool product you think we should check out, drop us a note at the tip line.

So here we go! Check out these food and kitchen tech products at CES 2020:

Robot Pizza: Back in October, attendees of the Smart Kitchen Summit got to sample pizza made by the Seattle based pizza robot startup Picnic. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Seattle, now’s your chance: Picnic’s pizzabot will be serving pizza at CES. Lines for food are long at CES, and I expect the pizza-robot lines at the Las Vegas Convention Center to be even longer.

Robot Ramen: If pizza isn’t your thing, you might want to make your way over to the Taiwan Tech Area in the Sands Eureka Park (Sands 51411) to check to another Smart Kitchen Summit alumni Yo-kai Express, which will be dishing up noodles from their robot ramen vending machine.

Beerbots: You’re gonna need something to chase the pizza, so you might want to check out a beerbot like PicoBrew (Sands 41518) or stop by Treasure Island for FoodTech Live (ticket needed) to see MiniBrew or BEERMKR. Also, while I haven’t hear anything out of LG yet about their beerbot, I am waiting to see if they’ll have an update on their beer brewing appliance they debuted at last year’d CES.

Drinkbots: If you’d like something a little stiffer (I’d suggest to wait til after noon, but this is Vegas and you are an adult), try out a cocktail robot like the Drinkworks (Sands 42546 and FoodTech Live) or Bartesian (Sands 40852).

Wine Tech. Oh, so you’re a wine snob, are you? Don’t worry, you can find that too. Earlier this week Chris wrote about the Albi from Albicchiere (Sands 52722), a cool countertop appliance that stores and serves your wine. Invineo will be showing its connected wine dispenser off as well (Sands 50863).

DNA-Driven Food Choices. Food personalization is moving beyond simple suggestions, and in the future it will get downright personal by creating diet plans based on a person’s biological makeup. If you want to check out a couple of companies looking deep inside your body to make food recommendations, check out DNA Nudge (Sands Booth 44316) or Sun Genomics (FoodTech Live – ticket required for entry).

Smart Countertop Cooking. There will be an array of different countertop cooking appliances that are powered by smart software and cook in new and interesting ways. CES will be the first chance to see a working version of the long-promised Anova smart oven (see our post here), which you can see in the Sands (booth 40946) . The Julia, which is a multicooker reminiscent of the Thermomix, features guided cooking videos delivered via a touchscreen interface. You can find the Julia at in the Sands at booth 41367. Speaking of Thermomix, they’ll be showing off the TM6 at FoodTech Live (ticket required). If you’re the smoothie type, check out the cool next-gen Millo blender (Sands 40346), who will also be showing off a smart table with wireless power.

Intelligent Surface Cooking. I expect some interesting news in terms of smart cooking surfaces. One cool demo I plan to check out is the GHSP concept that is both an induction cooking surface and a touch interface (North Hall 3111). I also expect the Wireless Power Consortium to be showing off their Ki cordless kitchen platform at their usual spot in the Las Vegas Convention Center at on the walkway near the South Hall (South Hall SL-2).

Smart Home Gardening/Vertical Farming Systems. I’ve been following smart gardening systems for years at CES, but this is the first year we’ve seen big appliance brands jump in. As Jenn wrote earlier this week, LG will be showing off a new indoor gardening system at CES (Central Hall 11100). Not to be outdone, GE will be coming with its own home gardening kitchen concept called “Home Grown” which it will be showcasing at the Haier/GE booth in the central hall (Central booth 16006).

Home Food Robots. We’re not sure how fully fleshed out the Autokitch cooking robot concept is, but they’ll have a booth at CES (Sands 53034). And while it’s not quite a fully robotic kitchen concept or bread making robot, the Tigoût is a pod-based baking machine from Argentina that’s is worth checking out. Drop in a pod, out spits a souffle or a raspberry muffin. You can see the Tigoût in action at Sands 52768.

Coffee and Tea, Please. If you’re looking for a nice cup of tech-powered tea, you should check out the Teplo tea maker, which will be at the Panasonic booth in the Sands (Sands 42711). If you’re more of a coffee person, then you’re in luck if you have a ticket to FoodTech Live: A production line version of the grind and brew Spinn will make its debut after a long-anticipated wait. The Terra Kaffe – which grinds, brews and steams milk – will also be in attendance at Food Tech Live.

Alexa, Give Me a Coke. Sure, this one is kinda gimmicky, but we are talking CES after all. Amazon and Coca-Cola are teaming up for a voice-powered Amazon Alexa “Coke Energy Wall” where attendees will be able to ask Alexa for a coke and a smile (delivered via what the PR describes as a “one of Alexa’s witty responses”. You can find the Amazon Alexa Coke Energy Wall at Sands booth #40934.

Smart Fridges. Smart fridges have been debuting at CES for years, and this year they are more evolved than ever. LG will be showing off its new InstaView ThinQ refrigerator, which uses computer vision and AI for real-time inventory of what’s inside (Central Hall 11100). Samsung will be back with its latest edition of the Family Hub smart fridge line, this time powered by Whisk, a smart food AI platform they acquired in spring of 2019 (Central Hall 15006). If you’re interested in products that make existing dumb fridges smart, Smarter will be showing off its smart fridge cam platform at FoodTech Live (ticket required).

Fake Meat. Impossible stole the show last year at CES with the debut of the Impossible 2.0. In retrospect, it was a brilliant move for the fake meat unicorn to unveil their next-gen meat at CES 2019, mostly because it would be the first time most journalists and attendees would have a bite of a plant based burger. It also didn’t hurt that the 2.0 is much better than the 1.0. This year Impossible will be back, kicking things off with a press conference at 5 PM on Jan 6th and then serving up twenty five thousand free samples of Impossible Burger (I’m guessing it will be the new recipe/3.0 edition) their new pork product and the Impossible Burger at the Central Plaza of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Smart Grillin’. The Weber folks partnered up with June late last year to add some software powered cooking intelligence to their grill. You can swing by their booth at the South Hall to see what those two have cooking on the Barbie (South Hall SP-2). Also, Chris wrote up the news this weekend about Yummly’s new entry in the increasingly crowded smart thermometer space. You can check that new product if you make an appointment with Whirlpool and swing by their meeting space at the Wynn (Wynn hospitality suites). Speaking of smart thermometers, Meater is back and you can check out their latest if you have a ticket to FoodTech Live.

Tiny Adorable Dishwashers. Like many of you kitchen nerds, I’ve been excited about the Tetra. Only problem is, Heatworks, the company behind the Tetra, is a bit behind on shipping their sexy little countertop cleaning machine and so it looks like they are staying home this year and focusing on getting it out the door in 2020. But don’t worry! If you’re looking to scratch the countertop cleaning machine itch, head on over to the Daan booth to check out equally adorable Bob (Sands 50819).

Ok, that’s it. While this list isn’t exhaustive, it’s a good start. If anything really interesting pops up before tomorrow’s CES Unveiled, I’ll update the post (send me any news I’ve missed via our tip form), and for more detailed updates make sure to check back here at The Spoon all next week!

Astronauts Bake Cookies with Zero G Kitchen’s Space Oven

Making cookies in space is definitely not an E-Z bake. But thanks to a special space oven from Zero G Kitchen and Nanoracks, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were able to get into the holiday spirit yesterday by making cookies… they just couldn’t eat them (h/t to The Verge).

On Twitter yesterday morning, astronaut Christina H. Koch posted a picture of herself along with fellow ISS resident Luca Parmitano and a fresh baked cookie still in its space age baking container.

The cookies, however, can’t be eaten. Since the oven is still very experimental, astronauts aren’t going to risk eating improperly cooked food while floating around in space. Instead, the cookies have been frozen and will be sent back down to earth for analysis.

Zero G’s space oven is pretty cool. As we wrote back in November when the oven was launched into space:

The new oven, which was built through a collaboration between Zero G Kitchen and Nanoracks, is actually quite fascinating. It’s a cylindrical chamber, and food is held in special silicone trays with 40 micron filters that allow heat and steam to escape and are held in aluminum frames so they can be securely racked.

This isn’t the first time that the oven has been used. The Verge reports that a number of cookie batches were made aboard the ISS this month to varying degrees of at least visual success.

Fresh-baked cookies aren’t the only creature comfort aboard the ISS that the astronauts can’t enjoy. Wine was also shot to the ISS aboard the same ship that brought the oven. But that’s just aging in space for 12 months before being returned to Earth, unopened.

The 2019 Kitchen Technology Year in Review

2019 was an action-packed year in world of food tech. Among other things, we saw an explosion in new products that promise to change what we eat, rapid change in food delivery models, and something of a slow motion food robot uprising.

The consumer kitchen also saw significant change, even if things didn’t move as fast as some would hope. As we close out the year, I thought I’d take a look back at the past twelve months in the future kitchen.

It’s An Instant Pot and Air Fryer World and We’re Just Living In It

Here’s an experiment: Next time you’re making cocktail-party conversation, ask someone about their most recent cooking gadget purchase for the home. Chances are its either an Instant Pot or an air fryer.

The above chart shows why this should come as no surprise, as it plots consumer interest in the Instant Pot and air fryer categories (as determined by Google searches) over the past five years. It also shows the seasonality of that interest (both spike during the holidays) and how air fryers have closed the gap with Instant Pot.

Regardless of how the two products perform relative to one another, the big takeaway is that the Instant Pot/pressure cooker and air fryer represent the two breakaway categories in countertop cooking over the past few years, and that trend continued strong in 2019.

Why? Because both products give consumers lots of cooking power to create a variety of meals at a low entry price point. Add in what are large and vibrant online recipe communities for both product categories, and you can see why both only became more popular in 2019.

Next-Gen Cooking Concepts See Mixed Results

Outside of pressure cookers and air fryers, 2019 was a decidedly mixed bag of results for next-gen countertop cooking concepts. June and Tovala both plugged along selling their second generation ovens, Suvie started shipping its four-chamber cooking robot and Brava’s “cook with light” oven tech sold to Middleby. But unlike the air fryer and Instant Pot, none of these new products have gone viral.

Why?

First, most of these products are fairly expensive, often coming in at $300 or above. That’s probably too high to convince enough consumers to take a chance on a new product in a new product category they don’t know much about.

Second, consumers need to better understand these new products. While I don’t expect Thermomix to replicate the success they’ve found with direct-sales in Europe in North America, there’s a reason such a premium priced product has succeeded in Europe: it has made consumer education and evangelism core to the business model.

Finally, the market has yet to see a product with just the right mix of new technology and high-value user-focused features that supercharges consumer interest. That said, there are some new products like Anova’s steam oven or the Miele Dialog’s solid state cooking (I’m told most big appliance makers are working on a similar product) that could potentially capture the imagination of consumers.

Large Appliance-Makers Continue to Dabble in Innovation

So here’s what some of the big appliance brands with resources did in 2019: Whirlpool came out of the gate fast with a lineup of new smart cooking appliances at CES 2019, including a pretty cool modular smart oven concept in the SmartOven+. Electrolux launched a new Drop-powered blender and partnered with Smarter to add machine vision and connected commerce features to its smart fridge camera platform. Turkish appliance giant Arcelik debuted a combo cooking and washing product concept under the Grundig brand.

Overall though, it wasn’t a big year for appliance-makers on the innovation front. Many of us waited for these companies to launch some of their more promising technologies, like Miele’s Dialog or BSH Appliances Pai interface, but neither effort seemed to move forward much, at least in any public way, in 2019.

A Sputtering Consumer Sous Vide Market

It was a bad year for those who make sous vide gear. In mid-year we learned that ChefSteps, maker of the Joule sous vide circulator, would be laying off a significant amount of the team after they ran into money problems. And, just a little over a week ago, one of the first consumer sous vide startups in Nomiku announced it would be shutting its doors.

Why did the consumer sous vide market lose steam? My guess the primary reason is because sous vide cooking is just too slow as an everyday or multiple-time-per-week cooking method. While some like Nomiku wanted to position the sous vide as a replacement for the microwave, it just isn’t convenient enough and requires too many steps for culinary average joes accustomed to the push-button cooking of the microwave. The reality is over time many sous vide circulators ended up stuck in the kitchen drawer.

Software Powers The Meal

At Smart Kitchen Summit 2017, Jon Jenkins said we will all someday “eat software” as it becomes more important in how we create food in the kitchen. Evidence of this was everywhere in 2019 as companies rolled out new software features to do things like cook plant-based meat to companies like Thermomix and Instant Brands betting big on software for the future.

We also saw kitchen-centric software players like SideChef, Drop and Innit loaded up on more partnerships with appliance and food brands to better tie together the meal journey, while Samsung NEXT acquired a digital recipe and shopping commerce platform in Whisk.

In short, it’s fairly obvious that for a kitchen appliance brand to survive, it’s becoming table stakes to have something of an evolved software strategy.

Amazon Continues Its Push Into Kitchen

If there’s been one takeaway from watching Amazon over the past few years, it’s that they see the food and the kitchen as an important strategic battleground. This past year did nothing to dispel this belief as the company introduced their own smart oven and continued to file weird food-related patents. Amazon also pushed forward with new delivery concepts for the home that bring together the different parts of the Amazon portfolio (voice ordering, smart home, grocery and more).

Grocery Delivery Space Race

Amazon wasn’t the only one looking to connect the smart home to grocery delivery this year. Walmart also debuted a new in-fridge delivery service called InHome. Meanwhile both companies and big grocery conglomerates like Kroger continue to invest in robotics and home delivery.

The reason for this growing interest in innovative home delivery concepts is pretty simple: more and more consumers are shopping online for groceries. Big platform players like Amazon and Google see a massive new opportunity, while established grocery players are forced to innovate to play defense.

No One Has Recreated The Success of the Keurig Model (Yet)

While much of the early focus for new kitchen startups has been on copying the Keurig model of pairing a piece of kitchen hardware with a robust consumer consumables business, unfortunately none have really been able to emulate the model for food products. There’s been no shortage of cocktail making robots, coffee, 3D food printing, chai tea and others attracted the the concept of recurring revenue that food sales bring, but as we’ve seen it’s hard to emulate the pod model approach.

Some, like Tovala, look to have had some limited success on pairing cooking hardware with food delivery, while others like Brava, Nomiku and ChefSteps weren’t able to create sustainable models. Genie and Kitchenmate are making a go of it in the office environment, while Level couldn’t and had to shut its doors earlier this year.

I expect kitchen hardware entrepreneurs to try to continue to pair food sales with products, but I expect that it will be tough sailing unless the company land upon very compelling, easy-to-use solution that turnkeys the cooking solution.

Cooking Media: A Peloton For The Kitchen Emerges

Forget Buzzfeed Tasty quick-play cooking videos. In 2019, we saw the emergence of other players providing deeper, more personalized cooking guidance that emulates what Peloton or Mirror have done with home-fitness instruction. Food Network made the biggest splash with its Food Network Kitchen concept while others like FET Kitchen are creating their own hardware platforms.

For Buzzfeed’s part, they haven’t given up on Tasty quite yet. Instead, they partnered up with Amazon to push their recipes onto the Echo Show, complete with step-by-step guidance. The combo creates essentially what is a fairly quick and easy guided cooking product.

Food Waste Reduction Comes Into Focus — Everywhere But The Home

If any place is lacking in innovation when it comes to reducing the amount of food we throw away, it’s the consumer kitchen. Sure, some startups are trying to rethink how we approach cooking by helping us to work with the food we have, while others are rethinking the idea of food storage, but innovation in home food waste reduction is lacking when compared to what we are seeing in restaurants and CPG fronts. We hope this changes in 2020.

True Home Cooking Robots Remained A Futuristic Vision in 2019

While single-function taskers like the Rotimatic did significant volume and others like Suvie positioned itself as a “cooking robot” for the home, the reality is we saw no significant progress towards a true multifunction consumer cooking robot. Companies like Sony see the opportunity to create a true home cooking robot, but for now food robots remain primarily the domain of restaurants, grocery and delivery.

Bottom line: It was an exciting year in the connected kitchen and we expect 2020 to be even more exciting. Stay tuned next week for my outlook on what to expect!

LG Will Unveil an Indoor Farm for the Consumer Kitchen at CES 2020

With CES right around the corner, the announcements are pouring in for new gadgets and products to be on display at the Las Vegas show, including those that will change the way we cook, eat, and think about our food. 

Appliance-maker LG is the latest. The company announced this week it will unveil a smart gardening appliance for the consumer kitchen at CES 2020, one that uses advanced lighting, temperature, and water control to let consumers grow greens year-round inside their kitchens.

The as-yet unnamed appliance takes many of the functions found in commercial-scale indoor farming and applies them to a device specifically made for the average consumer. Software, controlled via the user’s smartphone determines the precise “recipe” of LED lights, air, and water the plants need and when that recipe should change based on the time of day. The goal is to replicate “optimal outdoor conditions by precisely matching the temperature inside the insulated cabinet with the time of day,” according to the announcement from LG.

This kind of control means users can grow herbs and leafy greens year-round if they choose, and with considerably more ease than they would have with an outdoor garden. Not only does a controlled indoor cabinet mean no pests (or pesticides for that matter), the companion app basically offers a step-by-step guide each day for growing, monitoring, and harvesting plants. It’s not unlike the many guided cooking apps out there offering granular advice every step of the way so that experts and less experienced users alike can use the tool successfully. 

LG’s new appliance marks the company’s first foray into the indoor gardening space — and possibly a new trend for the future of the home kitchen. Up to now, smart indoor farms for consumers have been mostly standalone devices that don’t necessarily have any connection with the home’s main kitchen. From the pictures, LG’s appliance can be built right into the cabinetry and modular enough to fit many different kitchen formats. 

LG isn’t the only company exploring how to do this. At the beginning of December, appliance-maker Miele acquired the assets of Agrilution, whose Plantcube indoor vertical farm can be directly built into home kitchens.

It will likely be a long time before we see such devices become standard parts of all kitchens. That idea of building indoor farming into the design of the kitchen was a concept explored in depth at SKS 2019 this past October. It looks expensive, time consuming, and complex right now, but more major appliance-makers entering the space means we’re slowly but surely inching towards the day when the cost of such systems can come down and the average consumer might someday see at-home smart farming become a reality. 

Millo, Maker of the Apple-like Cordless Blender, to Debut “MAD” Kitchen Table at CES

For tech reporters, late December is the best of times and the worst of times. The holidays are the best and give us a couple days off from the daily grind. But right after the holidays is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), so our mailboxes are now inundated with thousands of pitches touting new gadgets.

Yesterday Millo, makers of the eponymous cordless blender (and Innovation award winner at our recent Smart Kitchen Summit), posted a picture on Linkedin of its new product — a smart kitchen table — that will debut at CES next month.

It appears to be a wireless power table, capable of powering kitchen appliances without the need for cords, plugs or adapters (though obviously they’d need a wireless power capable device).

We reached out to Aivaras Bakanas, Millo’s Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, to find out more, but he only offered a couple additional, vague details, like that the table uses magnetic air drive (MAD) technology.

Wireless power is something of a holy grail for the kitchen. The ability to power a device like a coffee maker simply by setting it on a countertop would reduce clutter (no more cords) and allow for more efficient use of space because you can use that counterspace for food prep when not powering devices.

The Wireless Power Consortium has been working on this problem for years and in September announced the Ki wireless power standard for powering kitchen countertop appliances. From that press release:

The Ki Cordless Kitchen standard works with any non-metal countertop or table surface, including marble, slate, granite, laminates, wood and many others. Enabled appliances communicate with the transmitter through near-field communication (NFC), a safe, inexpensive and pervasive technology currently used around the world in bankcards, door locks, passports, transport tickets, and more.

Based on a comment Bakanas left on Linkedin, it doesn’t seem like Millo is hopping on board with this Ki standard, saying that his company’s MAD drive was “much better” because it “can have any kind of rotation, and induction in this table.”

While that may be true, the Wireless Power Consortium is the incumbent with a ton of industry partners and track record with the widely adopted Qi wireless standard.

Regardless of whether this will be an uphill struggle for Millo, it’s cool to see the company has bigger ambitions beyond blending you a morning smoothie.

Instant Pot and Drop Partner for New Guided Cooking Recipe App

Instant Brands, the company behind the Instant Pot, and Drop, which makes smart kitchen software, today announced that the they have developed and launched a new Instant Pot recipe app.

Available for both Android and iOS, the new Instant Pot recipe app will feature roughly 1,000 recipes for Instant Brand appliances such as the Instant Vortex Air Fryer, Instant Ace Blender, and, of course, the full line of Instant Pot pressure cookers. The app will include step-by-step guided cooking recipes powered by Drop that adjust accordingly based on the number of people being served as well as ingredient substitutions.

One Drop feature this new Instant Pot will not have is device control. So while the Instant Pot app will walk you through the steps of making a particular recipe, it won’t allow you to, say, automatically turn on an Instant Pot from the app’s recipe. (Being at the device itself is probably a good idea for something like controlling a blender.)

Powering the Instant Pot app is another nice feather in the cap for Drop. The company announced an integration with Thermomix, another popular standalone appliance, last month. Drop also has deals with Bosch, Electrolux, GE Appliances, and LG Electronics using its software, the Instant Pot has a massive installed base of millions of appliance owners. Those appliance owners are also vociferous in Facebook groups, so if the Instant Pot app works well (or doesn’t), believe me that community won’t be shy about sharing their experience online.

The new Instant Pot recipe app launches today, those using the older version of the app will be migrated to this newer version.

Mycusini, the First Consumer-Priced 3D Chocolate Printer, Begins Shipping in Europe

While the future of 3D food printing will include everything from printed bread to plant-based steaks, the reality is printing globs of goo for your meal might not be an appetizing thought for most consumers.

But what if it were chocolate?

If you live in my home, where pretty much everyone is a certified chocoholic, there’s a good chance you’d find some takers. Luckily for us, a consumer-priced 3D chocolate printer went from idea to reality recently when the mycusini home 3D chocolate printer started shipping in Europe.

Priced at €298 (~$320), the mycusini is the only chocolate printer on the market today shipping below the $2,000 price point. The product debuted on Kickstarter in June and went on to raise €20,000 (~$22,185 USD). Originally, mycusini was scheduled to ship by the holidays, but the product is weeks ahead of schedule and, according company spokesperson Gerd Funk, regular orders for the Kickstarter were all fulfilled at the end of last month.

Part of the reason Print2Taste, the company behind the mycusini, has been able to get the price so low is that they first developed a professional 3D chocolate printer, the Procusini, in 2015. Since that time, the company has continued to iterate and improve on the Procusini (currently in its fourth generation), including the development of the “choco” ingredient capsules that are similar to the ones used in the mycusini.

As I wrote this past June:

“So how does the mycusini work? Basically like all 3D food printers: by extruding small amounts of material (chocolate in this case) layer by layer. The major downside to the mycusini is it, at least initially, requires the use of custom-made “Choco refills” as the printing material, which are essentially crayon-shaped chocolate cylinders that fit into a stainless steel dispensing cartridge. A single-source supplier is never ideal, and being reliant on a small startup out of Germany for chocolate refills likely means potentially long wait times before you can start printing your next confection.”

While I still would prefer not to rely on a proprietary refill system, I think it would be worth the investment for those who are attracted to the idea of creating elaborate chocolate designs. Because of its low price, I could see the mycusini as a low-risk way for some chefs or chocolatiers to dip their toe into the 3D food printing waters.

So what would you print with the mycusini? The software allows you to freehand draw designs or pick from a pre-designed template, of which there are over 200 designs created by Print2Taste’s in-house chef. According to the company, in the future mycusini users will be able to upload their own designs created through CAD software and shared on an online marketplace.

Like I said, I could see some takers in my home for a product like the mycusini, but because the product is only shipping in Europe, I’ll have to wait before I put it on my holiday wish list.

For those of you living in Europe, the mycusini might make a good last-minute holiday gift for the chocolate nut or aspiring chocolatier in your life, especially since the product looks be on sale through the holidays at €250.

Kickstarter: Is Neoven’s Promise of a Portable Oven with Fridge and Mixer too Good to Be True?

Is there any promise less trustworthy than a Kickstarter promise? Crowdfunding campaigns intentionally paint a pretty picture to attract your dollars, but sadly those promises often go unfulfilled, literally (looking at you Rite Press and iGulu).

With that in mind, I’m casting a bit of the ole’ side eye at the NEOVEN, a product now on Kickstarter that promises to be a portable oven to heat your lunch, as well as a fridge and smoothie mixer and kettle.

The NEOVEN has two main compartments: a larger one for holding a food container and heating it, and a secondary one to hold a smaller container of food, or in which to plug in modules like the mixer, kettle and cooling unit. The heating supposedly only takes five minutes and can be controlled via the NEOVEN mobile app.

This is the second heated lunchbox that we’ve written about in as many weeks. The Heatbox also promises to heat up your meal when you’re ready to eat, but it only promises to heat and uses steam to do so. The NEOVEN says it uses a Heta heating element, and it will make smoothies and coffee.

That all sounds great, and I hope they can pull it off. But I’m always leery of Kickstarter devices that try to be so many things. Developing a prototype is one thing but manufacturing something at scale is quite another, and it’s in that leap where so many crowdfunding campaigns go off the rails.

What is interesting is that most of the people commenting on the Kickstarter campaign page aren’t worried about the device not actually coming to market. Instead they’re concerned that it’s made out of plastic. Plastic waste is definitely an issue for the planet, but if it works NEOVEN seems like it could help people use less plastic by eating out less frequently and creating less food waste.

NEOVEN was looking to raise $20,000 and has already hit more than $77,000 in backing with 19 days left in its campaign. Backers can pledge $199 to order a NEOVEN (without any attachments) that is supposed to ship in July of next year.

The Three Stages of Thanksgiving Connected Cooking Grief

In retrospect, I was too cocky this Thanksgiving. Backed by cooking technology and cloud connected apps, I thought making my first turkey would be a breeze. I’d turn a dial, tap a button on my phone and voila! A perfectly cooked turkey would emerge.

Like some folktale about technology versus tradition, I was wrong. While the turkey did come out beautifully, it had almost nothing to do with any connections built into my appliances. In fact, the technology I used almost created more stress than relief.

Thanksgiving is already a stressful holiday. You want your guests to eat on time and enjoy delicious food and, especially with a turkey, you want to make sure no one gets sick. That is partly why I armed myself with so much technology when smoking my first turkey. I had the Traeger Pro 575 WiFire wood pellet grill and a Meater block of WiFi enabled meat thermometers.

Stage 1: Excitement

My initial plan was to use the Traeger app to monitor and control the cooking and the Meater thermometer to ensure that the bird was cooked thoroughly. Easy peasy.

In my previous tests with the Traeger, I noticed that while the accompanying app was useful for remote monitoring and control of the grill, the guided cooking features were a little too automated and on the rails. There wasn’t a place to pause the cook program, so it would just barrel through to the next step (like raising the temperature) even if you weren’t ready. I needed a little more flexibility with a 14-pound bird on a cold day.

For extra accuracy, my plan was to use the Meater thermometers not only to monitor the internal temperature of the bird, but to also help ensure accuracy of the ambient temperature inside the cooking cavity. This backup would just help make sure the grill was cooking at the right temperature.

I’ve used Meater before and found it to be a great experience. The app is intuitive, and while the probe itself is a little thick, it’s easy to set up and use. Or at least it was before. Almost immediately I had issues connecting my Meater app to a thermometer, and even when I managed to do so, that connection was lost as soon as I placed it in the grill and shut the door. After a half hour of re-starting and re-connecting, I just abandoned the Meaters altogether.

Stage 2: Mild Panic

Suddenly, I was left to my own devices and not the ones I thought were going to save me.

Again, this is the first time I’m making a turkey. I wanted it to be done and I didn’t want to get anyone sick. With its slick interface, tons of data and directions on when to pull out the turkey to let it rest, I was counting on the Meater to help me through. But now that was out of the picture.

And the Trager app wasn’t much help, either. The recipe had two main instructions: cook on low heat for a few hours and then move the bird into a foil pan and ratchet up the heat when the color of the bird looked right. Looking right may be the sort of vague direction that works for people with confidence in their cooking, but I only had sort of an idea of what a smoked turkey should look like two hours in.

As a result, I kept opening up the grill to look at the bird, which dropped the temperature of the grill each time and made the cooking process longer. Finally, after a few hours, it looked good and I covered it in butter, wrapped it in foil, set it in a pan and put it back in.

I had started the process at 8 a.m. and it was coming up on noon. Guests would arrive in an hour and we were eating at 3, and this bird was nowhere near done.

Long story short: while the recipe said it would take five hours, the cook actually took more like seven hours, and I had to make adjustments like turning up the heat beyond what was instructed to get the internal temperature to a safe 165 degrees.

Stage 3: Relief

Despite technological shortcomings and my steady worrying, the turkey came out beautifully and was delicious. Really. Not to brag, but it tasted better than the turkey we cooked in a traditional oven and was so good that I’ll probably smoke another one next year.

What I learned is that I can’t rely on gadgets to make it happen though. The connected kitchen still has lots of idiosyncrasies to work out. Devices should connect without hassle and the design of apps should not be an afterthought.

Hopefully the industry can come together to create technology that helps cook the turkey — not be the turkey next Thanksgiving.

The Spoon 2019 Food & Kitchen Tech Gift Guide!

With our bellies full of delicious food and leftovers just waiting to be, well, gobbled, it’s time to turn our attention from gluttony to giving presents. And if you’ve got a foodie in your life, or a techie, or some kind of foodie techie, then we have compiled the perfect gift guide for you!

The Spoon staff has gone over all the gadgets, gizmos and other great stuff we’ve encountered throughout the year and assembled them into one handy-dandy list. Take a look and let us know what you think!

CATHERINE LAMB’S PICKS:

Silicone Straws
We all know that we shouldn’t be using single-use straws because they end up in landfills and oceans. But many reusable straws are large, tricky to clean, and too awkwardly shaped to carry around with us to the office or our favorite lunch spot. That’s why these colorful silicone straws from Food52 are such a win. Not only do they look pretty; they’re also flexible so you can bend and store them in their accompanying carrying cases. Bonus: They come with a squeegee for easy cleaning. A four-pack is $25, so that shakes out to four holiday gifts for under 10 bucks each!

Photo: Willie’s Remedy.

Willie Nelson CBD Coffee
If you need a gift for someone who loves country music, coffee, and is a slightly adventurous (or just two of the three), a bag of beans from Willie’s Remedy may be just the ticket. The coffee from Willie Nelson’s company is infused with CBD, the trendy wellness ingredient that’s the non-hallucinogenic chemical compound in the cannabis plant. It’s meant to promote relaxation and focus, giving you that caffeine boost without the jitters. (Bonus: It’s tasty stuff.) Buyer Beware: While Willie’s Remedy coffee may ship openly around the U.S., CBD-infused food and beverage is technically not approved by the FDA.

Photo: Bright Cellars.

Bright Cellars
There are those people who are really hard to buy gifts for because they already have everything. But one thing that no one (alright, hardly anyone) has enough of is wine. Especially if it’s personalized to their tastes. Bright Cellars is a wine subscription service that uses a short quiz to curate monthly wine deliveries tailored specifically to the recipient’s preferences. It uses feedback to further personalize the wine selection — so it’s also a tool to teach you more about what wines tickle your fancy. Prices are flexible and start at $100.

JENN MARSTON’S PICKS:

GoSun Reusable Cutlery
I’d bet money that for most people who do the whole stocking stuffer thing (raises hand), only about 10 percent of the gifts involve items that are actually useful. But if you want to branch out from chocolate coins and lip balm this year, consider investing in a few pairs of GoSun’s portable utensil packs. The set of reusable cutlery comes with a stainless steel fork and spoon nestled in a metal case roughly the size of a credit card. Pieces are dishwater safe and, in theory at least, can help us curb the amount of disposable cutlery used at QSRs and fast-casual restaurants. The sets are available for $20 each, which is pricier than chocolate coins but exponentially more useful. The only drag is that they don’t actually ship until February 2020, so a photo of the product in someone’s stocking will have to do for the holidays.

Ember Mug 2
Ember released the second-generation version its temperature-controlled mug in October of this year, which makes it an obvious candidate for our 2019 guide. Dubbed the Ember Mug 2, the ceramic “smart” mug keeps your coffee or tea heated to an exact temperature for hours by talking to your phone, which controls the temperature via an app. Yes, the new version is pricy: $99.95 for the 10 oz. mug, $129.95 for the 14 oz. version, and $179.95 for a travel mug. But if you have a loved one who particularly hates microwaving lukewarm dregs of coffee, the Ember Mug2’s longer battery life and touchscreen interface on the mug might just be worth the price hike.

Ponix System Herbert Farm
Got health-conscious family members on which you’re willing to splurge this holiday season? Consider buying them a vertical farm that hangs on the living room or kitchen wall. Ponix System’s Herbert farm uses LEDs and software to grow plants directly in water, with no need for soil. The unit can grow up to 15 plants at once, which is more than enough to provide fresh greens to a single household. The best part of this product is that you can save additional space by mounting Herbert onto the wall. The system goes for €490.00 right now. If you’re outside of the EU, expect additional shipping fees that are determined on a case-by-case basis.

MIKE WOLF’S PICKS:

Image credit: Equal Parts

Equal Parts Cookware and Coaching
No matter how much you cook at home, it’s always good to have a friend you can rely on for cooking advice. If you (or someone in your life) haven’t found that person yet, you might consider a cookware set from Equal Parts. Each set of cookware from this new cookware brand targeted at millennials comes bundled with two months of coaching provided through text messaging, which allows the home cook to ask about anything from techniques to recipe recommendations. I’ve been trying out the coaching service in preparation for Thanksgiving and find my coach responsive and knowledgeable. The cookware+coaching bundles start at $65 and go up to $500 and can be found on the Equal Parts website.

Terra Kaffe TK-01 Grind and Brew Coffee Machine
If you or a loved one has been looking for the closest thing to a coffee robot for the home, the Terra Kaffe TK-01 might just be it. This grind and brew coffee machine allows you to make pretty much any coffee drink under the sun with a few touches of the button. With the ability to optimize your favorite drink and save a specific formulation using the user friendly touch screen, the TK-01 could be the perfect gift for the coffee snob who thinks (s)he has everything. And because it grinds from whole beans stored inside an internal reservoir, it’s more environmentally friendly than that old Keurig, and could be a good gift for someone looking to put pod-based coffee behind them. Priced at $775, you can pick up a TK-01 for $675 using the discount code BF2019 for a limited time.

Sparkel
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, unless of course it’s adding bubbles to a beverage. That’s my and my family’s attitude at least since we’ve been testing out the Sparkel home carbonation machine and add fizz to everything from sweet tea to cold brew coffee to golden milk. The Sparkel, which is available in a starter pack for $99 (or $119 for a Smeg-ish color like pink or light blue), is a good gift option for anyone in your family who loves to try out new types of beverages or just consumes tons of sparkling water.

CHRIS ALBRECHT’S PICKS:

Cinder
A sous vide cooked steak is delicious, but it can be a hassle. You have to bring the water to temp, then seal up your meat in plastic (yuck), heat it in the bath for a long time, and then after all that you have to get a pan or grill ripping hot so you can sear it. Ugh. Who wants to deal with all that? The Cinder grill is like a George Foreman grill on steroids that does all of the above in one device. It offers precision sous vide style cooking with no water bath, no plastic bags, and you can sear it on the same device — and the results are delicious. At $429, the Cinder is a lot more expensive than a sous vide wand, but the time you’ll save will make up for it.

Freshly Meal Plan
I tested a lot of prepared meal delivery services this year and while Freshly wasn’t the cheapest, it was the tastiest. Freshly offers a wide range of meals like Sicilian Style Chicken Parm, Sausage Baked Penne, and Coconut Green Curry Chicken. They arrive already made and packaged up so all you have to do is pop them in the microwave, plate and enjoy! Perfect for busy folks and families looking for a little variety in the weekly dinners. You can gift four meals for $50.

Magically delicious

Magic Spoon
Sugary breakfast cereals are delicious, but also… packed with sugar, which is a no-no. Enter Magic Spoon, the “healthy” sweet breakfast that is reminiscent of your childhood but accommodates your adult lifestyle. It’s gluten-free, keto-friendly, packed with protein and most importantly, SUPER TASTY. So you can eat like a kid without any adult guilt. It does, however, come with an adult price, costing $40 for a four-pack, but having gone through four boxes myself, it’s worth trying at least once.

Those are our picks! What do you want for the holidays? Leave us a comment and let us know!