Characterization of O/W emulsions of carotenes in blackberry juice performed by ultrasound and high-pressure homogenization

ABSTRACTCarotene compounds are a group of natural pigments with potential applications in the food industry for their antioxidant activity, but due to their physicochemical instability and incompatibility with many food matrices, different technologies have been employed, such as emulsification, to improve stability and compatibility. Therefore, the physicochemical stability and antioxidant activity of carotene oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were studied, using carotene compounds extracted from carrot as the oil phase and blackberry juice as the continuous phase. The effect of different factors on the stability of the emulsion – the relative concentration of the dispersed phase, the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB), the surfactant concentration, and the emulsification method – was assessed using surface response analysis. The emulsion with the best properties was obtained in the phase ratio 2:8 (v/v) with 6% surfactant and an HLB of 16.7. The ultrasound method produced emulsions with higher antioxidant ...