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Buying an edible ink printer needn’t be a complicated exercise in research and time. Although there are some things you do need to know to get yourself a reliable edible ink printer, they really are quite simple.

What you may not know is that an edible ink printer is just an ink-jet printer which uses food-grade edible inks. This ink must be specially constructed to have the right viscosity for an inkjet printer. As with any printing, the ink is sent through the printer and deposited onto paper. The only difference being that with an edible ink printer you print onto an edible paper. Many kinds of edible papers exist, but icing sheets are the most commonly used and achieve great results.

Currently Canon printers are our preferred machines for edible printing. What we love about Canon printers is the controlled microscopic ink ejection from the printhead nozzles, which deliver great precision prints.

Breaking it down a bit further in regard to Canon (and what you should look for in an edible ink printer), the edible ink cartridges within the printer work the same way as ordinary inkjet printer cartridges. You install them in the same way you would ordinary ink, your printer’s ink sensors work the same way they would with ordinary ink. The added benefit of EIS edible ink cartridges is that they are refillable, which saves you money if you’re planning on using your printer regularly.

When you’re researching edible ink printers, you’ll no doubt discover unfamiliar brands. Buyer beware, lesser known brands tend to be extremely hit and miss when it comes to technology. So, really the only way you can guarantee you’re getting what you pay for is by selecting a reliable brand.

Some of the features you should expect to get in your edible ink printer are Wi-Fi support, a USB port, an SD port. These features are standard with the printers we choose to sell, ours also support AirPrint, Google Cloud Print and third-party platforms such as One Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook, and Instagram. Our printers also work equally well with Windows and Mac OS. Which means that if you’ve printed anything before, then you already have all the skills you need to print an edible image!

When it comes to edible ink printers one of the most important features is a removable print head, this makes it far easier to maintain. We’ll go into detail about this in another article, but for now just know that Canon ticks that box!

A final point to note, whilst it’s great to be price conscious and look at various options with edible ink printers (and we recommend that you do), a word of advice - make sure your sheets and inks are from a reputable source. If you’re looking for an easy, stress free purchase with additional support, then a respected supplier who specialises in Edible Printing is your best bet. You should also be able buy the printer, inks and icing sheets together as a bundle, which proves to be more cost effective.

Important Note: For edible images NEVER use a printer which has previously been used with non-edible inks, even if it’s been thoroughly cleaned, as regular inks are toxic.