Ginger is a commonly used herb with a plethora of biological activities and remarkable potential for functional product development. This study evaluated the influences of three drying methods—convection drying (CD), heat pump drying (HD), and freeze‐drying (FD)—on the quality attributes of ginger powder. Gummy candy (GuC) samples enriched with the most biologically active ginger powder (4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, and 8%) were then evaluated for color, physicochemical properties, texture characteristics, and sensory attributes. The FD method had the least impact on the color change of the ginger powder. The FD ginger powder samples performed outstandingly in terms of physicochemical properties. Ginger powder treated with FD retained the highest levels of biologically active ingredients, including polyphenols (116.906 ± 3.686 mg GAE/g DW), flavonoids (103.337 ± 2.086 mg QE/g DW), gingerol (13.351 ± 0.426 mg/g DW), alkaloids (11.840 ± 0.490 mg AE/g DW), and tannins (3.832 ± 0.165 mg TAE/g DW). FD ginger powder showed the highest antioxidant capacity. Therefore, FD ginger powder was used in GuC formulations. The water activity, moisture content, and pH of the GuC supplemented with ginger powder were significantly lower. Although the supplement of ginger powder significantly affected the color values and textural properties of the gummies, sensory analysis showed that the gummies supplemented with 7% ginger powder had the highest overall acceptance score and acceptability index (AI), with values of 7.333% and 84.444%, respectively. Therefore, FD ginger powder can be used as a natural ingredient in vegan GuC formulations.
Nguyên et al. (Thu,) studied this question.