Valorization of Andean berries through whole-fruit powder development

Modern consumer trends are directed towards the search for products that offer components with physiological activity and provide positive effects on health. This research is aimed to evaluate the effect of the formulation and process of the Andean berries mix powder of cape gooseberry-strawberry-blackberry (BP) using SD technology. A central composite design was used, considering the following independent variables (IV): inlet air temperature (IAT) (140–160 °C), outlet air temperature (OAT) (80–90 °C), atomization disk speed (ADS) (20,000–24,000 rpm), and maltodextrin (MD) (6–10 %), and the dependent variables (DV): moisture (M), hygroscopicity (Hy), solubility (S), wettability (We), particle size (D_[3,2]), bulk density (ρ_bulk), antioxidant capacity (ABTS and DPPH methods), total phenolic compounds (TP), vitamin C, and yield (Y). Experimental optimization defined the formulation and process conditions: MD = 6.3 %, ADS = 24,000 rpm, IAT = 140.0 °C, OAT = 83.6 °C. The BP obtained the following quality attributes: M = 3.3 %, S = 62.9 %, Hy = 17.9 %, We = 8.7 min, ρ_bulk=0.396 g/mL, D _[3,2] = 14.8 µm, ABTS = 1,478.3 mg TE/100 g db, DPPH = 1,000.6 mg TE/100 g db, TP = 860.4 mg GAE/100 g db, vitamin C = 18.1 mg AA/100 g db, Y = 62.5 %. The application of statistical tools contributes to developing Andean berries mix powder products maximizing antioxidant activity and physicochemical stability.