Application of maltodextrin and gum Arabic in microencapsulation of saffron petal's anthocyanins and evaluating their storage stability and color

• Microencapsulation by freeze drying could be recommended as a suitable method for stabilizing anthocyanins of saffron petal's extract.
• No significant decrease in anthocyanin content of the encapsulated powders was observed after storage.
• Degradation of total anthocyanins in control sample (freeze-dried saffron petal's extract without encapsulation) during storage was significant.
• Different compositions of Arabic gum and maltodextrin as wall materials did not show any significant differences in protecting anthocyanins.
• Application of maltodextrin and gum Arabic in microencapsulation of saffron petal's anthocyanins and evaluating their storage stability and color.

In this work, anthocyanin stability and color of encapsulated freeze-dried saffron petal's extract with various matrices consisting gum Arabic (AG) and maltodextrin (M7 and M20) were studied. Total anthocyanins of powders and color parameters (a*, b*, L*, C, H° and TCD) were measured immediately after production and during storage up to 10 weeks by pH differential method and computer vision, respectively. Different compounds of wall materials did not show any significant differences in terms of stabilizing anthocyanins (P < 0.01) and no significant decrease in anthocyanin content of the powders was observed after storage. The efficiency order of wall materials considering total color differences (TCD) was AG > M20 > M7. By evaluating 3D surface and Cox trace plots it was revealed that wall formulas which had the lowest amount of AG and highest amounts of M20 and M7 showed the lowest total color differences after storage (P < 0.05). To conclude, microencapsulation by freeze drying could be recommended as a suitable method for stabilizing anthocyanins of saffron petal's extract.