Study of the Production Process of an Encapsulating Agent for an RS3-Based Carrier Matrix

The article aims to improve the quality of dried blueberries for use as an encapsulating agent. The effects of different blueberry pretreatment methods on drying parameters were investigated, and combined drying regimes were developed for blueberries subjected to various pretreatments, thereby reducing drying time by approximately 23 % compared with existing methods. The dependence of the specific latent heat of moisture evaporation from whole and pretreated blueberry tissues on relative moisture content was established at drying temperatures of 60 °C and 80 °C. The specific heat capacity of blueberries was found to depend primarily on their moisture content, a characteristic of moist, capillary-porous materials. At low moisture contents, however, anomalies were observed as a pronounced increase in effective heat capacity at temperatures of 55–60 °C. Infrared (IR) pretreatment was shown to accelerate the breakdown of the wax coating during subsequent drying. The resulting dried blueberries were used as an encapsulating agent to form an RS3-based carrier matrix. The dispersion and rheological properties of the carrier matrix containing blueberry biologically active compounds were found to depend significantly on the berry pretreatment method. The blueberry flavonoid complex reduced the viscosity of resistant starch, with the lowest viscosity observed for the RS3-based carrier matrix containing biologically active compounds from blueberries dried in a convective dryer. Gel-forming ability was also evaluated, demonstrating that resistant starch forms a stronger gel than native starch and that incorporating blueberries significantly enhances gel strength. Based on these findings, a food system model was proposed in which the resistant starch content and the blueberry flavonoid complex are the main factors influencing the rheological properties of the resistant starch-based carrier matrix.