The Influence of Acacia Gum and Whey Protein on the Stability of Microencapsulated Bioactive Compounds of Saffron

To illustrate the influence of acacia gum and whey protein on the microencapsulated effective compounds of saffron by means of spray drying method, the frozen dried aqueous extract of saffron’s effective compounds was prepared. The aqueous solution of 25 w/v% of acacia gum and whey protein containing specific amount of freeze dried powder were dried with spray dryer. At first , the characteristics of microcapsules such as the colour, aroma and flavour yield of microcapsulation, microstructure , encapsulation efficiency , moisture, bulk density and particle size were tasted , then the release speed of effective compounds in two different temperatures (25 and 45° C) at 23%,57% and 75 % humidity conditions were evaluated during 45 days of storage. The result showed that the encapsulation efficiency and the amount of saffron compounds, colour (crocin), aroma (safranal) and taste (picrocrocin) were highly affected by type of polymer materials during the drying process and storage. The picrocrocin and safranal content in microcapsules prepared with whey protein were at the highest, whereas in the case of colour strength, acacia gum showed better protection for the crocin .This research also suggested that the microcapsules containing acacia gum has a better quality in terms of efficiency (mass production) and can be recommended to the industry

Keywords:

Bioactive compounds of saffron , Acacia Gum , Whey Protein , Encapsulation