Encapsulation of strawberry flavour and physicochemical characterization of the encapsulated powders

Abstract

This study was aimed to enhance the encapsulation stability of natural strawberry flavour using spray and freeze drying processes. Optimum spray drying conditions in terms of the wall materials (maltodextrin, soluble fibre, modified starch, β-cyclodextrin and arabic gum) and the inlet air temperature (130–190 °C) were determined using the response surface methodology where dependent parameters were minimum aroma release, maximum aroma recovery, drying yield and solubility. Particle morphology, particle size, bulk and tapped density analyses were also determined. The optimum conditions were found as; air inlet temperature: 190 °C, maltodextrin: 15.30%, modified starch: 1.83% and arabic gum: 12.87%. Optimum process yield and solubility of the microencapsulation were determined as 85.17 and 98.19%, respectively. Spray dried microcapsules were generally spherical, smooth and homogeneous while those obtained by freeze-drying were heterogeneous and spongy. Particle size of the spray dried samples (D90 value: 22.91 μm) was much lower than the freeze dried samples (D90 value: 326.83 μm).