Dian Shofinita
One of the agricultural wastes that is potential for the production of food colorant is dragon fruit skin. Several previous studies have reported that dragon fruit skin is rich in bioactive materials, such as pigments (anthocyanin and betacyanin) and also antioxidant compounds, such as phenolic compounds. Two stages of production process can be done for the production of natural colorant from dragon fruit skin, which includes extraction and drying. One of the materials that can be used as drying aid is maltodextrin. This study aims to evaluate how maltodextrin affects the quality of dragon fruit skin extract powder during freeze-drying. The recovery of bioactive materials, which includes total phenolic compound, betacyanin, and anthocyanin, during freeze-drying were assessed. Furthermore, the surface morphology of the products was also observed. Freeze drying of the dragon fruit skin extracts has been done to utilize agricultural wastes for the production of natural-based colorant. In this study, the quality of the dragon fruit skin extract powder was assessed as affected by the addition of 0-90 %-w (of the total solid contents of the extracts) of maltodextrin. This result may suggest that freeze-drying may be suitable for drying of heat-sensitive materials, such as natural food colorants from dragon fruit skin extracts.
Penerapan Karya Tulis
One of the agricultural wastes that is potential for the production of food colorant is dragon fruit skin.