A promising approach for developing functional gummies with enhanced extraction and stability of anthocyanins using β-cyclodextrin-based natural deep eutectic solvents.

The extract of anthocyanins using natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) with β-cyclodextrin offers a promising approach for developing functional gummies with enhanced stability and antioxidant capacity. The use of NADES composed of CD-CA (β-cyclodextrin and citric acid （1:10） ratio with 40% water) increased the anthocyanin yield by up to 39% compared with traditional HCl-EtOH (1% hydrochloric acid in ethanol) method from four types of leaves and four types of flowers. Seventeen anthocyanin compounds were identified in the CD-CA extracts, including cyanidin 3-O-sophoroside 5-O-glucoside and cyanidin 3-2G-glucosylrutinoside, which were not detected in the HCl-EtOH extracts. Furthermore, the extract of CD-CA exhibited a 1.29-fold higher radical scavenging capacity than that of HCl-EtOH, and significantly improved both photostability and thermal stability of anthocyanins. Importantly, the obtained extract of Crimson Glory could be directly used in the pectin-based gummy system without further separation or purification. During thermal processing, anthocyanin retention in CG-CD gummies was 11.01% higher than that in CG-EtOH gummies, as well as 11.31% increased for the 30-day storage, with 82.24% in the CG-CD gummies. The free radical scavenging capacities of CG-CD gummies with saturated red color reached up to 28.18 mg Vc equivalent per gram, representing a 1.32-fold increase compared to that of CG-EtOH gummies. These findings demonstrated that the β-cyclodextrin-based NADES effectively protected anthocyanins, confirming its potential as a green and efficient functional ingredient for developing stable and antioxidant capacity functional gummies.