Fruit candies enriched with grape skin powders: physicochemical properties

•Grape skin (GS) powders were added to food products having a gel-like structure.•GS presence changed the texture and shortened the dehydration time of the products.•GS increased the anthocyanin, flavonol and proanthocyanidin content of the products.•Antioxidant activity remained stable during processing.

This study investigated the effect of addition of grape skins (GS) on a fruit candy having a gel-like structure. GS from Barbera, a red grape (Vitis vinifera L.) variety, were processed into powders through milling and sieving to obtain three fractions having different particle sizes. Three fruit candy types added with GS fractions and a reference candy (without GS) were produced and analysed during the dehydration process, mainly in terms of moisture, soluble solids, water activity, polyphenol contents, ferric reducing antioxidant power, colour and texture. The fortification with GS powders increased the anthocyanin, flavonol and procyanidin contents of the candies, resulting in an increased antioxidant activity, which remained stable during processing. Furthermore, the fibre-enriched candies exhibited good textural properties. In general, the addition of GS promoted the reduction of the processing time, the replacement of a significant amount of fruit puree with a low-cost and high-nutritional winemaking by-product, as well as the delivery of beneficial compounds, thus highlighting the high potentialities associated with the use of GS in the confectionery industry.