Effect of Processing on Physical Property and Carotenoid Content in Natural Food Colorant from Gac aril

Abstract

Gac aril has been reported as a potential raw material for food colorant. It contains significant amounts of β-carotene and lycopene that are responsible for a yellow red color. However, processing steps for a food colorant production may cause losses of those compounds and color in Gac aril. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of processing steps including removing seed method (1. manual seed removal 2. partial drying and 3. enzyme treatment) and drying on the changes of β-carotene, lycopene and color in Gac aril. The results illustrated that enzyme treatment for removing seed resulted in higher percentage of Gac aril yield than manual seed removal and partial drying method. Manual seed removal and enzyme treatment exhibited higher β-carotene and lycopene retention than partial drying method. All removing seed methods did not have any significant effect on changes of color in Gac aril. Both β-carotene and lycopene significantly degraded during drying because the higher drying temperature caused higher degradation rate of β-carotene and lycopene. However, the drying temperature did not significantly affect the color of dried samples. Overall, enzyme treatment for removing seed and hot air drying at 60°C of Gac aril was recommended for producing natural food colorant by providing the highest percentage of Gac aril yield, retention of β-carotene and lycopene.