Production of a red–purple food colorant from Opuntia stricta fruits by spray drying and its application in food model systems

Opuntia stricta fruit juice is a potential source of betacyanin pigments which can be used as a natural red-purple food colorant. In this work a powder food colorant was obtained by co-current spray drying of O. stricta fruit juices with a bench-scale two fluid nozzle spray dryer. Glucose syrup (DE 29) was used as drying aid. Optimum conditions for spray drying were as follow: juice content (20% v/v; 1.2 °Brix), glucose syrup content (10% w/v), liquid feed rate (0.72 l/h), spray air flow-rate (0.47 m3/h), drying air flow-rate (36 m3/h), and inlet drying air temperature 160 °C. Color was retained during the drying process (>98%) and drying yield was high (58%). The powder colorant showed high color strength (4.0), being this color strength stable when stored at room temperature for one month. This colorant was successfully applied in two food model systems: a yogurt and a soft-drink. Food presented a vivid red-purple tonality very attractive for consumers that was maintained after one month under refrigeration (4 °C) (ΔE < 5).