Production and Evaluation of Yogurt Colored with Anthocyanin-Rich Pigment Prepared from Jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora Mart.) Skin

Yogurt is known as a healthy food, but some synthetic additives that are commonly added to it can be one of the factors that restricts yogurt's consumption. The aims of this study were to prepare and evaluate yogurts with the addition of spray-dried, anthocyanin-rich colorant extracted from jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora Mart.) skin. The concentrated extract was spray-dried using maltodextrin (20 g/100 g w/w) as a carrier and added to yogurts in the concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 g/100 g w/w. The yogurts were stored for up to 28 days under refrigeration and periodically evaluated. Except for the yogurts to which 1.5 g of extract was added, all samples had a slight pH reduction in the first 7 days of storage. Throughout the yogurts' storage period, the anthocyanin and a* values were slightly reduced (p < 0.05), indicating some anthocyanin instability. The rheological behavior was typical for yogurts, but the casein gel network was probably disrupted by the jabuticaba extract incorporation, reducing the yogurt's apparent viscosity. Panelists showed good acceptance for the attributes of taste, color, aroma, appearance, texture, and overall impression, indicating that this natural pigment has the potential to be a substitute synthetic color additive for the production of mixed berry yogurts, contributing to the reduction of waste.