Butterfly pea lemon drink powder

The present investigation aims to study the effect of different percentages of inulin and inlet temperatures on the physicochemical properties of butterfly pea lemon drink powder. Three different percentages of maltodextrin (15%, 20%, and 25%) were added (w/w) as the encapsulating agent prior to spray drying. Inlet temperatures were varied at 160 °C, 170 °C, and 180 ℃, respectively and the outlet temperature (80 ℃) and feed flow rate (8 mL/min) were kept constant. Moisture content, water activity, bulk and tapped density, flowability, solubility time, water absorption index, and vitamin C were analysed for the powder samples. The research data were statistically analysed by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Minitab version 17 at a confidence level of 95% and all tests were done in triplicates. The results indicated that at higher inlet temperatures and higher percentages of inulin, the moisture content and water activity decreased, showed a good powder stability. Moreover, powders produced at higher temperatures were more soluble and exhibited a lower cohesiveness. When the inlet temperatures of spray drying augmented from 160 °C to 180 ℃, the bulk density and tapped density also decreased and thus increased the flowability of the powder from fair to excellent. The results also showed that a decrease in the percentage of inulin to 25% at a lower temperature range (160℃) led to the higher retention of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the butterfly pea lemon powder drink.