Abstract
The passion (Passiflora edulis Sims) fruit peel is rich in phenolics and other bioactive com‐ pounds and has great potential as a natural food preservative. The present study investigated the value‐adding potential of passion fruit peel waste generated on an organic farm. The effect of carri‐ ers in encapsulating the peel extract to develop a polyphenolic‐rich powder was investigated. The passion fruit peel extracts were prepared using 70% ethanol (1:10 w/v), and encapsulated using waxy starch (WS), gum arabic (GA), and maltodextrin (MT) before freeze‐drying. The effects of carriers on the passion fruit peel powder (PFPP) production yield, physicochemical, rheological, phyto‐ chemical, and antioxidant properties were investigated. GA‐and MT‐encapsulated powders had better physical, phytochemical, and antioxidant properties, including yield, total soluble solids, sol‐ ubility, bulk density, total phenolic content, and ferric reducing antioxidant powder. A total of 18 metabolites, including phenolic acids (10), flavonoids (6), and stilbenes (2), were tentatively identi‐ fied in all the PFPP samples, with WS exhibiting a higher concentration of the compounds compared to GA and MT. Our results indicated that no single carrier was associated with all the quality attrib‐ utes; therefore, better results could be produced by compositing these carriers. Nonetheless, our results highlight the potential of passion fruit peels as a source of polyphenols and functional in‐ gredient in formulating natural food additives.