Natural powder colorant from Clitoria ternatea flowers

Flowers of Clitoria ternatea, commonly known as butterfly pea, have a large amount of phenolic compounds able to prevent oxidation, in addition to having an intense blue color, which make it a food coloring source. This work aimed to microencapsulate the aqueous extract of the butterfly pea flower by spray drying using different proportions of maltodextrin and gum arabic as carrier agents. The hygroscopicity, water activity, concentration of polyphenols and anthocyanins, average size and antioxidant activity were determined in the powders obtained, named as colorants. The powders obtained were blue in color with varying intensities and the product with 100% maltodextrin showed lower hygroscopicity, higher concentration of polyphenols and smaller average diameter. The results suggest that gum arabic did not contribute to increasing the concentration of polyphenols, making it more viable to use only maltodextrin as a carrier agent in drying the extract due to its greater availability. Thus, the powders obtained have potential for industrial use such as coloring and the enrichment of foods and beverages.