Evaluation of type and concentration of wall materials in D-Limonene microencapsulation to determination of optimum condition for flavored rock candy production

The aim of this study was to produce D-limonene microcapsule with resistant coat (Gum Arabic and maltodextrin) for manufacturing flavored crystal rock candy. Oil-in-water emulsions were prepared at concentrations of 10% and 20% and related characteristics including particle size and emulsion capacity were examined. Microcapsule properties produced by spray drying process such as surface oil content, oil retention, encapsulation efficiency, release rate and morphological characterization by SEM were also evaluated. The results showed that an increase in GA concentration had significant effect on examined factors as the higher ratio of GA/MD led to decrease in z-average diameter. Moreover, the release rate decreased due to increase in wall materials concentration upon 6 weeks at room temperature. Optimal microcapsule by its properties (75/25 of GA/MD by 20% of wall materials), was used to produce flavored rock candy so that, the effect of temperature, pH and the amount of microcapsule on yield and the time for formation of first crystal were investigated. The influence of pH and the amount of microcapsule on yield and also syrup’s temperature and the amount of microcapsule on the time for formation of first crystal were significant (P