Microencapsulation of cardamom oleoresin: Evaluation of blends of gum arabic, maltodextrin and a modified starch as wall materials

Although the spice oleoresins provide complete flavour profile than their respective essential oils, their sensitivity to the light, heat and oxygen is a disadvantage. This can be overcome by effective encapsulation. The present work reports on the microencapsulation of cardamom oleoresin by spray drying using binary and ternary blends of gum arabic, maltodextrin, and modified starch as wall materials. The microcapsules were evaluated for the content and stability of volatiles, entrapped 1,8-cineole and entrapped α-terpinyl acetate for 6 weeks. A 4/6,1/6,1/6 blend of gum arabic:maltodextrin:modified starch offered a protection, better than gum arabic as seen from the t1/2, time required for a constituent to reduce to 50% of its initial value.