Abstract
The growing consumer demand for natural and eco-friendly food products motivates the development and evaluation of new and natural inputs for the food industry. So, this work explores the potential of grape pomace (GP) from winemaking, a food production residue, to obtain an anthocyanin-rich, ready-to-use extract with antioxidant activity that can confer improved color-rich gummy candies. The anthocyanins' chemical nature and the predictive COSMO-SAC model was considered for screening the best natural eutectic mixture for anthocyanin extraction. The eutectic mixtures composed of choline chloride as a hydrogen bond acceptor and acetic and citric acids as hydrogen bond donors were selected as solvents. The extraction was performed using a high-shear disperser (Ultra-Turrax®) at 45 °C and was stirred at 5000 rpm for 10 min. The extracts presented high total anthocyanin content (TAC), up to 60 µg equivalent of cyaniding-3-glucoside/g of dry GP, and high antioxidant activity as determined by DPPH and FRAP assays. The phenolic profile was also determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the results corroborated with the antioxidant activity of the extracts. The results also demonstrate that eutectic mixtures enhance the extraction efficiency of anthocyanins and improve their stability, making them suitable for incorporation into functional food products such as gummies, acting as natural colorants.