Betacyanins from Gomphrena globosa L. flowers: Incorporation in cookies as natural colouring agents

A betacyanin rich extract was obtained from the flowers of Gomphrena globosa L. by ultrasound-assisted extraction and dried either by lyophilization or spray-drying, was tested as a natural colourant in cookies and compared to a commercial colourant. The extracts were characterized in terms of betacyanin content and antioxidant potential. The effects of the colourants incorporation in the cookies were assessed through proximate composition, soluble sugars, fatty acids, color, texture and microbial load, over a shelf life of 30 days. Considering all the assays and analyzing the results through a 2-way analysis of variance, the cookies incorporated with spray-dried colourant showed the most intense pink coloration while cookies incorporated with lyophilized extract lost less color intensity over time. Thus, betacyanin extracts have potential as pink natural alternatives to synthetic colourants in the food industry.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020); C. L. Roriz PhD’s grant (SFRH/BD/117995/2016), L. Barros and Isabel P. Fernandes to FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for their contract and the individual scientific employment program contract for S.A. Heleno’s contract. The authors are also grateful to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®. M. Carocho also acknowledges ValorNatural® for his contract. Finally, P. Morales is also grateful to UCM ALIMNOVA Research Group (GR105/18).