One approach to improving sustainable food production is to add value to fruit by-products, which are currently used as animal feed or discarded, yet may be useful sources of natural antioxidants due to their phenolic compounds. Hence, the present work aimed to produce and evaluate two products prepared from an anthocyanin-rich extract of a blackberry by-product through freeze-drying. Maltodextrins with 10 and 20 dextrose equivalent (DE), were assessed as the carrier matrices. The maltodextrin DE did not significantly influence the mean diameter and solubility of the particles. Morphological analysis revealed that all the particles exhibited a broken glass structure and shriveled surfaces. Comparatively, better results were obtained from the maltodextrin 10 than 20DE powders, regarding anthocyanin retention in the drying process, hygroscopicity, moisture content, acidity, water activity and color indices (P < 0.05). The results suggest that blackberry by-products contain valuable biocompounds, namely anthocyanins. Therefore, the anthocyanin extraction, concentration and microencapsulation with maltodextrin 10DE, presented a potential approach to using blackberry byproducts as food colorants or healthy ingredients.

The recovery of phenolic compounds of Eugenia pyriformis using different solvents was investigated in this study. The compounds were identified and quantified by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet-visible diode-array detector (RP-HPLC-DAD/UV-vis). Absolute methanol was the most effective extraction agent of phenolic acids and flavonols (588.31 mg/Kg) from Eugenia pyriformis, although similar results (p ≤ 0.05) were observed using methanol/water (1:1 ratio). Our results clearly showed that higher contents of phenolic compounds were not obtained either with the most or the least polar solvents used. Several phenolic compounds were identified in the samples whereas gallic acid and quercetin were the major compounds recovered.

In this work, the rheological behaviour of ternary mixtures of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry pulps in steady shear was studied using the response surface methodology. In addition, the rheology of pectic gels extracted from these pulps was investigated by means of oscillatory shear tests. The flow curves were adequately described by the rheological model of Herschel-Bulkley. All the formulations analysed exhibited shear-thinning behaviour. The rheological responses were influenced by the difference in pulp proportions and also by the temperatures (20 and 60°C). The quadratic and cubic models used to fit the response were considered suitable owing to the higher values of determination coefficient (R 2 ). The pectic gels from strawberry, blackberry and raspberry showed a strong gel character, with strawberry presenting the stronger gel, which was confirmed by the Cox-Merz experiment, degree of esterification and average molecular weight data.

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Several natural coagulants have been studied for use in water treatment. The seed of Moringa oleifera Lam, for example, is a natural coagulant whose extract has been mentioned as effective not only for removing color, turbidity, and compounds with absorption at UV-254 nm, but also for significantly reducing the amount of sludge and bacteria in wastewaters. Therefore, the present study (1) evaluated the molecular weight of the extract of Moringa oleifera seed utilizing electrophoresis, and (2) compared the efficiency of different extracts obtained, using solutions of NaCl (0.01 M, 0.1 M and 1 M), distilled water, and Moringa oleifera Lam seed, acting as a natural coagulant in order to obtain drinking water. The tests were performed in Jar Test, and the effectiveness of the process was assessed regarding the removal of color, turbidity and UV-254 nm. It was observed that the molecular weight found in this study is consistent with literature data. Moreover, the highest removal efficiency of color, turbidity, and UV-254 nm occurred with 1M NaCl solution, with coagulant concentration between 100 and 300 mg L-1. The results obtained evidenced that the seed of Moringa oleifera Lam is a great alternative for use as a coagulant in drinking water treatment systems.