Stability of spray-dried microencapsulated anthocyanins extracted from culinary banana bract

Culinary banana bracts are a potential source of anthocyanin, which can be widely used in the food industry because of its health beneficial effects. The aim of the present study was to study the stability of microencapsulated anthocyanin extracted from culinary banana bracts using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). Central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the process variables for the extraction of anthocyanin and the optimum condition was observed at 15:0.5 solvent to solute ratio, 53.97 ml/100 ml ethanol concentration, and 49.4 degrees C. The optimized experimental anthocyanin content was 56.98 mg/100g and it closely agreed with the predicted value (57.29 mg/100g). High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) results revealed that cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside were two constituents of anthocyanin. Encapsulated pigment powder exhibited satisfactory properties in terms of hygroscopicity, solubility, and good encapsulation efficiency with smooth spherical morphology (2-10 mu m) as confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The storage stability of microencapsulated anthocyanin did not change noticeably up to 7 days but thereafter gradually decreased at 30 degrees C and 75% relative humidity. During 21 days of storage, anthocyanin stability decreased by 44 %along with the decline in free radical scavenging activity.