Articles
Application of betalain extracts as colouring foods to food products
Article number
1343_58
Pages
463 – 472
Language
English
Abstract
Colouring foods have an inherent ability to impart tinctorial properties to food products; they often carry nutritional benefits and may impart various flavors to foodstuffs.
For example, the earthy taste geosmin is found in beetroot, and a sweet taste is found in the Monterey cactus pear cultivar.
The identification of colouring foods derived from betalains demonstrates that the food industry and consumers can have access to a wider range of natural colorants that are nutritious and provide pleasant flavour to food products.
Three different plants were used during the food colouring process (beetroot, cactus pear, and amaranth). Colouring Foods were extracted with distilled water and applied in their liquid or freeze-dried state.
The watery extract was used to colour nine different foods, including yogurt, milkshake, ice cream, jelly, pancakes, cupcakes, icing, coloured sugar, and candyfloss.
Due to its prolonged exposure to high heat (72°C), the tenth product, polony, was coloured with freeze-dried pigments and cooked for 3 h.
The results indicated that dairy products such as yogurt and ice cream could be successfully coloured and remain stable for 10 days.
Jelly, coloured sugar and icing sugar were among the products where the pigment colour was stable.
Food products that were exposed to high temperatures, i.e., candy floss and polony, were not stable and lost their colour strength over the 10-day storage period.
The colour was imparted more strongly by Robusta and Monterey pigment extracts than any other pigment sources. Monterey cactus pears offered a pleasant, fruity taste to the foodstuffs.
The amaranth powder gave a more vivid colour than Robusta and beetroot polony when colouring polony.
For example, the earthy taste geosmin is found in beetroot, and a sweet taste is found in the Monterey cactus pear cultivar.
The identification of colouring foods derived from betalains demonstrates that the food industry and consumers can have access to a wider range of natural colorants that are nutritious and provide pleasant flavour to food products.
Three different plants were used during the food colouring process (beetroot, cactus pear, and amaranth). Colouring Foods were extracted with distilled water and applied in their liquid or freeze-dried state.
The watery extract was used to colour nine different foods, including yogurt, milkshake, ice cream, jelly, pancakes, cupcakes, icing, coloured sugar, and candyfloss.
Due to its prolonged exposure to high heat (72°C), the tenth product, polony, was coloured with freeze-dried pigments and cooked for 3 h.
The results indicated that dairy products such as yogurt and ice cream could be successfully coloured and remain stable for 10 days.
Jelly, coloured sugar and icing sugar were among the products where the pigment colour was stable.
Food products that were exposed to high temperatures, i.e., candy floss and polony, were not stable and lost their colour strength over the 10-day storage period.
The colour was imparted more strongly by Robusta and Monterey pigment extracts than any other pigment sources. Monterey cactus pears offered a pleasant, fruity taste to the foodstuffs.
The amaranth powder gave a more vivid colour than Robusta and beetroot polony when colouring polony.
Publication
Authors
V.N. Sigwela, M. de Wit, A. Du Toit, A. Hugo
Keywords
colorant stability, natural colorants, product development, storage, temperature
Groups involved
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