The Effect of Encapsulant Type on Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Anthocyanin Extract Powder from Red Dragon Fruit Hylocereus polyrhizus
Zainal (a*), Amran Laga (b), Heriadi (c)

a) Laboratory of Food Analysis Chemistry and Quality Control, Food Science and Technology, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, 90245, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
*zainal[at]unhas.ac.id
b) Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Biotechnology, Food Science and Technology, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, 90245, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
c) Master student of Food Science Technology, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, 90245, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Anthocyanin pigment extract from red dragon fruit has the potential to be a natural dye for food and can be used as an alternative to synthetic dyes that are safer for health. Anthocyanins are unstable and easily degraded during processing and storage due to the influence of heat, pH, light, and oxygen. This problem can be overcome by making anthocyanin coloring powders with encapsulation techniques. This study aims to determine the effect of the type of encapsulant on the physical and chemical characteristics of anthocyanin extract powder from red dragon fruit. The encapsulation process of anthocyanin pigment extract uses the freeze-drying method with the addition of maltodextrin, gum arabic, and a combination of maltodextrin and gum arabic as an encapsulant. The parameters of the physical and chemical characteristics of the anthocyanin extract powder analyzed were water content, solubility, color intensity, total anthocyanin content, and antioxidant activity. The results showed that the anthocyanin extract powder encapsulated using the freeze-drying method obtained the best results using maltodextrin encapsulants with the results of the test parameters water content of 5.96%, the solubility of 94.00%, the color intensity of 0.304, total anthocyanin content 31.17 mgCyE/g, and 84.60% antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Anthocyanin- Encapsulant-Maltodextrin- Gum Arabic- Hylocereus polyrhizus

Topic: Genetically Modified Foods, Food Safety, and Product Development