Anthocyanins in processed fruit degrade significantly due to their heat and oxygen sensitivity and water solubility. Copigmentation for stabilizing anthocyanins is less effective for whole fruit due to anthocyanins’ location within cell vacuoles surrounded by the epicarp layer as barrier to prevent copigment complexing with anthocyanins. This study investigated strategies for enhancing anthocyanin–phenolic copigmentation on blueberry surface, and integrated copigmentation with layer‐by‐layer (LBL) coating to retain anthocyanin stability in thermally processed blueberries. Results indicated that epicarp layer treatment of fruit by Tween 80 (T80) and CaCl2 is important for enhancing anthocyanin–phenolic copigmentation. The sequential copigmentation treatment using T80, ferulic acid, and CaCl2 (T80→FA→CaCl2) or T80, tannic acid, and CaCl2 (T80→TA→CaCl2) resulted in higher (p < 0.05) retention of total monomeric anthocyanin (3.18 mg/g and 3.38 mg/g, respectively) in thermally processed blueberries after 7‐day ambient storage than that of untreated fruit (2.79 mg/g). Percent polymeric color (PPC) of blueberries treated by T80→FA→CaCl2 (15.5%) or T80→TA→CaCl2 (17.4%) was lower (p < 0.05) than that treated by TA alone (22.5%). The LBL coating enhanced microstructure stability for preserving anthocyanins in thermally processed blueberries. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of sequential copigmentation of blueberries after epicarp layer treatment followed by LBL coating for enhancing anthocyanin stability in processed whole fruit. Practical Application When anthocyanin‐rich fruit is thermally processed, anthocyanins degrade and leach to aqueous packing solution because of its heat sensitivity and water solubility. This study developed an innovative technology through implementing sequential treatments of copigmentation and water‐ and heat‐resistant coating for preventing heat and water degradation of anthocyanins in whole fruit during processing in aqueous media. The developed technology can be practically applied to enhance the quality and health benefits of thermally processed anthocyanin‐rich whole fruit. The technology can not only be utilized to improve existing fruit products, but also develop new and novel fruit products.

To enhance hydrophobicity and surface adhesion of edible coatings onto blueberries, an emulsion system consisting of polysaccharides and oleic acid (OA) was developed and incorporated into layer-by-layer (LBL) cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-based coating.The surface tension (ST) of CNF-based emulsion coating with chitosan (CS), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and OA was 34.28 mN/m, within the range of critical ST (28.41-37.52 dyne/cm) of blueberry surface after washing and copigmentation treatment by phenolic acid, which is essential to ensure good adhesion of coatings on fruit surface. CNF-based emulsion coating demonstrated lower water sorption (9.47%) and water solubility (35.42%) and higher water contact angle (82.49 ) than CNFbased coating without emulsion (control; 378.60%, 51.72%, and 67.37 , respectively). CNF-based emulsion coating also showed lower tensile strength (5.9 MPa) and elongation at break (2.55%) than control (28.17 MPa and 17.85%, respectively). CNF-based emulsion coating was validated on thermally processed blueberries for preventing anthocyanin pigment leaching as the first layer in a LBL coating system with sodium alginate as the second layer. The CNF emulsion incorporated LBL coating system significantly preserved anthocyanin pigment in the processed blueberries compared with that of control due to increased surface adhesion and hydrophobicity and decreased mechanical damage. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of emulsion system in coatings for enhancing hydrophobicity and surface adhesion of coatings to preserve the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of thermally processed blueberries. Practical ApplicationDegradation of anthocyanins in processed fruit and fruit products has been a longterm challenge for processed food industry. The hydrophobic and heat-resistant coatings developed in this study can be used to preserve antioxidant anthocyanin pigments within fruit when subjected to thermal (simulated canning) process in aqueous solution, thus overcoming the barriers that the food industry has been facing. CNF plays a critical role to enhance thermal stability and adhesion of coatings onto fruit

This study investigated calcium sulfate and chitosan on the textural modification and microstructure of tofu made from lentils. The addition of varying amounts of calcium sulfate (0–12 mM) and chitosan (0–1.0%) into lentil milk could affect the gel properties of lentil-based tofu. The gel properties, including the hardness and cohesiveness, of lentil-based tofu significantly increased with the addition of 12 mM calcium sulfate, exhibiting a slightly discontinuous network structure and a slightly regular pore network. However, the gel properties including hardness and cohesiveness significantly decreased with the addition of 1.0% chitosan, presenting a slightly continuous network structure with pores. Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis showed that the aggregation of the vicilin, legumin acidic unit and legumin basic unit proteins in lentil milk was induced both by 12 mM calcium sulfate and 1.0% chitosan. Our results suggested that calcium sulfate and chitosan could affect the gel properties, such as hardness and cohesiveness, of lentil-based tofu. Therefore, calcium sulfate and chitosan can be used as practical food additives for the development of texture-modified lentil-based tofu.