Microencapsulation of Carotenoids from Red Melinjo (Gnetum gnemon L.) Peels Extract

摘要

Red melinjo (Gnetum gnemon L.) peels have high carotenoid content and have the potential to be a natural food colorant. But carotenoids have low resistance to light, heat and pH. Microencapsulation is one of the process that can be done to protect and increase the solubility of carotenoids. This research was aimed to protect and increase the solubility of carotenoid compounds from red melinjo peels extract by microencapsulation process. This research consist of two stage, preliminary and main stage. In preliminary stage, red melinjo peels were extracted using ethyl acetate. In the main stage, the extract was encapsulated using spray dryer. The microcapsules were analyzed for moisture content, powder recovery, total carotenoid and phenolic content, encapsulation efficiency, color measurement, solubility, and particle size. The extract has 17693.87 μg/g total carotenoid content and 23.21 mg GAE/g total phenolic content. From the result of this research, there are effects of spray drying inlet temperature and coating material ratio towards characteristics of microcapsules. The best microcapsules were obtained using 150°C spray dryer inlet temperature and 100% arabic gum as coating material with moisture content 5.08%, powder recovery 72.45%, total carotenoid content 420.40 μg/g, encapsulation efficiency 91.23%, hue microcapsules powder 30.95°, total phenolic content 1.12 mg GAE/g, solubility 89.35%, and microcapsules particle diameter 2.85 μm.