Isolation of anthocyanin from Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower and its utilization as food colorant

Abstract

Commonly used food dyes are made from petroleum and pose a lot of risks to consumers; thus, there is a need to search for a natural food colorant that will give same sensory properties to food products but will eliminate health risks. Anthocyanins are phytochemicals known to have high potential as food colorants and wide range of health-promoting benefits. This study aims to determine the anthocyanin content of selected plant samples namely, alugbati (Basella rubra) stems, aratiles (Muntingia calabura) fruit, boat lily (Tradescantia spathacea) leaves, cassava (Manihot esculenta) stalks, guava (Psidium guajava) leaves, gumamela (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) flower, mango (Mangifera indica L.) peelings, oregano (Origanum vulgare) leaves, pansit-pansitan (Peperomia pellucida Linn.) plant, and spider wort (Tradescantia pallida) leaves using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. Among the plant materials analyzed, the highest total monomeric anthocyanin pigment concentration of 330.9162 ± 28.55mg/L was observed from gumamela (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) flower. Isolation of anthocyanin from Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower was performed using alkanol solution with different concentrations of tartaric acid as solvent. The use of different concentration of tartaric acid in alkanol affect significantly on the % yield and antioxidant activity of the crude anthocyanin. The use of anthocyanin as food colorant in ice cream gives same result with that of the commercially available synthetic colorant in terms of color or appearance, aroma, texture, taste and overall acceptability and will give health benefits to the consumers.