Synergistic enhancing effect of xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose and citric acid on the stability of betacyanins in fermented red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) drink during storage

Teck Wei Lim; Renee Lay Hong Lim; Liew Phing Pui; Chin Ping Tan; Chun Wai Ho

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21025

Synergistic enhancing effect of xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose and citric acid on the stability of betacyanins in fermented red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) drink during storage

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 14;9(10):e21025. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21025. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Teck Wei Lim^{1

2}, Renee Lay Hong Lim¹, Liew Phing Pui², Chin Ping Tan³, Chun Wai Ho²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, UCSI University, No. 1, Jalan Menara Gading, UCSI Heights, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Sciences, UCSI University, No. 1, Jalan Menara Gading, UCSI Heights, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

Nowadays, the demand for using healthy natural pigments (betacyanins) in the food industry is increasing. The present study aimed to overcome the circumstances that render the betacyanins instability in the red dragon fruit drink using mild approaches. These included optimised fermentation, incorporation of anionic polysaccharide mixture solution [xanthan gum (XG, 0.30-0.40 %, w/v) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC, 0.50-0.90 %, w/v)] and also addition of citric acid (CA, 0.05-0.20 %, w/v). The results of this study showed that the hydrocolloid mixture solution of XG and CMC significantly increased the samples' viscosity, pH and °Brix but reduced the a_w, while betacyanins concentration had no significant change. The incorporation of CA at increasing concentration only reduced the samples' pH significantly without affecting the viscosity, a_w and °Brix. Among all fermented samples, Formulation 3E (0.40 % XG + 0.50 % CMC + 0.20 % CA) had achieved the desired commercial reference viscosity while also successfully minimised betacyanins degradation from 60.18 % to 14.72 %, had the best pH stability and no significant change in viscosity, a_w and °Brix values after 4-week storage at 25 °C. The fermented red dragon fruit drink with betacyanins stabilised by Formulation 3E can be produced and served as an independent functional drink product and as a stable, functional ingredient (natural colourant) for the food industry.

Keywords: Carboxymethyl cellulose; Citric acid; Concentrated betacyanins; Red dragon fruit; Stability; Xanthan gum.