Stabilization of bioactive betalain pigment from fruits of Basella rubra L. through maltodextrin encapsulation.

The ripened fruits of Basella rubra are rich in betalains that can be used as food
grade natural colorants. Betalains were extracted from de-seeded fruits and encapsulated
with maltodextrin and spray dried. The total betalains content of the fruit extracts was
348.2 with 296.6 betacyanins and 51.6 mg/100g of betaxanthins. Further, betacyanins
and betaxanthins were confirmed by HPLC. The optimization of B. rubra fruit juice
powder was devised using the spray drying parameters of inlet air temperature (IAT)
(150 °C), maltodextrin (MD) addition rate 50%) and feed flow rate (FFR) (2.5 mL/h).
Encapsulated betalains with maltodextrin showed about 10 fold increase in betalains
content compared to normal fruit juice. Encapsulated betalain powder from fruits of B.
rubra preserved at 4°C for two years and subjected to microbial analysis at six month
interval and the quality was found good without any significant microbial count.