Potensi antosianin buah duwet (Syzygium cumini) sebagai pewarna pangan alami yang memiliki kemampuan antioksidasi

Abstract

There is a worldwide interest in the use of natural red colorant in foods. Anthocyanins have been suggested as potential colorants due to their attractive red colors and non-toxicity. Jambolan (Syzygium cumini) fruit, a tropical fruit is found in Indonesia, is rich in anthocyanin pigments especially in its peel part. It has a potency for natural food colorant. In this study, the utilization of jambolan anthocyanins for natural food colorant was studied. The anthocyanins of jambolan fruit were characterized for their composition, stability properties, improvement of color intensity and stability through intermolecular copigmentation reaction, and capability as antioxidant. The content of total monomeric anthocyanin in the ripe fruit was 161 mg/100 g fresh fruit (731 mg/100 g skin on wet basis). Anthocyanins were identified as 3,5-diglucoside derivatives of delphinidin (41%), petunidin (28%), malvidin (26%), cyanidin (4%), and peonidin (1%). Native jambolan anthocyanins had low color intensity with pH ranging from 1 to 8 and relatively unstable during heating at 80 and 98oC, exposed to white fluorescent light and storage at room and refrigeration temperature, absence of light. However, they showed better stability to all treatments tested than enocianin, a commercial anthocyanin colorant. During light exposure and storage treatment, native jambolan anthocyanins showed comparable stability to red cabbage anthocyanins (acylated structure). Intermolecular copigmentation of jambolan anthocyanins with cinnamic acid (sinapic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid) and rosemary polyphenol extract increased the color intensity. Copigmentation with rosemary polyphenol extract produced the best color enhancement. Copigmentation with sinapic acid, caffeic acid, and rosemary polyphenol extract also increased stability on light exposure and storage treatments (room and refrigeration temperatures), not on heat treatments at 80 and 98oC. Moreover, jambolan anthocyanins, native or copigmented, in the form of extract, isolate, or added to a model beverage as colorant showed antioxidant activities. The anthocyanin isolate showed higher antioxidant activity as compared to extract from pulp or peel. Copigmentation jambolan anthocyanins with sinapic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and rosemary polyphenol extract on a model beverage increased the total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity as compared to model beverage with native anthocyanins. These results indicated that anthocyanins obtained from jambolan fruit can be utilized as a functional natural colorant for low pH foods.