Microencapsulation of Ceratonia siliqua L. extract for food purposes: effect of extract/alginate ratio

Human health, nutritional status and well being can be enhanced through consumption of foods containing specifically desired nutrients and bioactive agents [1]. Popularly known as St John’s Bread, Ceratonia siliqua L. (carob) has a long history of use in food (over 4000 years). It has a good nutritional value and its polyphenolic extract shows high antioxidant capacity and even higher antiradical activity than well-aged red wines. Its reducing power can also be four-fold higher than many well known potent antioxidant agents such as gallic acid, caffeic acid and catechin [2]. Nevertheless, preparing high quality nutritious food is critically dependent on availability of effective delivery systems. Such systems should preserve the specific nutritional, biological, chemical and functional properties of the sensitive constituent, and should effectively release the compounds, in a desired mode, after ingestion. Nowadays, the most promising technology that can allow overcoming the stated difficulties is microencapsulation [1]. In this context, a hydroethanolic (80:20, v/v) extract obtained from carob pulp by ultrasound extraction was microencapsulated for further use in the development of functional yogurts.