Production and Stability of Food Colorant from Red Beetroot

Color is one of the most important quality criteria that affect the preference of foods. Therefore, food colorants are used in order to obtain the desired color in the food industry or to improve current color of foods. Natural colorants are generally obtained from various vegetable sources and are preferred because they increase the nutritional properties of foods as well as their sensory properties. Red beet plant (Beta vulgaris L.) is used as a raw material in many studies on this subject because it is very rich in betalains, which are natural food colorants. Studies on betalaines have shown that these substances can be used as food colorants. With an increasing demand, the extraction of betalains with the highest yield and the stability of the extracted betalains are gaining importance. In this study, general information about red beetroot and betalains, methods used in extraction and encapsulation applications for stability of betalains were reviewed