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Increasing interest in production of frequently consumed functional food products has focused the present study on implementation of microencapsulated Ganoderma mushroom and green tea bioactive compounds in beer production. Electrostatic extrusion assisted microencapsulation of green tea and Ganoderma extracts enabled production of particles ranging from 490 to 1000 ?m in size, with up to 75% of entrapped total polyphenols. Dried, powdered extracts, as well as microparticles encapsulating Ganoderma and green tea extracts that exhibited the best morphological properties and retarded release of polyphenols (alginate and alginate-chitosan coated, as well as chitosan coated pectin microbeads) were implemented in beer production. The addition of Ganoderma microbeads to pilsner beer did not augment its polyphenolic concentration (TPC), as opposed to the addition of green tea encapsulating microbeads to radler, while adding dried Ganoderma and spray dried green tea extracts enabled to increase the TPC for up to 3-fold higher values. Ganoderma dried extract-enriched pilsner beer and spray dried green tea extract-enriched radler were preferred in terms of sensory properties, due to the lowest bitterness intensity and most pronounced herbal aroma of the added adjuncts. Refrigerated storage of Ganoderma hydrogel microbeads-enriched pilsner beer revealed fluctuations of TPC, while green tea hydrogel microbeads-enriched radler exhibited better stability. The established methodology provides a procedure suitable for microencapsulate-enrichment of drink and food products, thus setting a reliable basis for future functional food production by microencapsulate implementation strategies. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 46001, Grant no. 46010 and Grant no. 31020]

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Blackberry leaves have been used as a tea substituent in many herbal mixtures. Medicinal properties of this plant material are related to a high level of components with antioxidant activity, such as phenolic compounds. The aim of the research was to evaluate the effect of different extraction conditions on the content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of blackberry leaves extracts. In this study, blackberry leaves extracts were produced by an aqueous extraction procedure. Different extraction conditions: water temperature (40 and 80 °C) and extraction time (15 and 30 min) were investigated. The blackberry leaves extract prepared by applying higher temperature (80 °C) and longer time (30 minutes) was characterized by the highest contents of total phenolic compounds (1534.15 mg gallic acid equivalents L -1 ), flavonoids (715 mg quercetin equivalents L -1 ) and flavan-3-ols (28.21 mg (+)-catechin L -1 ). Also, this extract expressed the highest antioxidant activity in terms of the ferric reducing ability of plasma (27.33 mmol Trolox equivalents L -1 ) and generation of 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation (1.47 mmol Trolox equivalents L -1 ). The obtained results indicated that the produced extracts are a rich source of phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity. Among investigated conditions, the use of water heated to higher temperature (80 °C) during prolonged time (30 min) is the most optimal procedure for the extraction of phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity from blackberry leaves. Further research is needed to determine the exact phenolic profile and their bioavailability, as well as to develop new functional food ingredients or nutraceuticals containing blackberry leaves extracts.

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