Irradiation depolymerized guar gum as partial replacement of gum Arabic for microencapsulation of mint oil.

Spray dried microcapsules of mint oil were prepared using gum Arabic alone and its blends with radiation or enzymatically depolymerized guar gum as wall materials. Microcapsules were evaluated for retention of mint oil during 8-week storage during which qualitative changes in encapsulated mint oil was monitored using principal component analysis. The microcapsules with radiation depolymerized guar gum as wall material component could better retain major mint oil compounds such as menthol and isomenthol. The t(1/2) calculated for mint oil in microcapsules of gum Arabic, gum Arabic:radiation depolymerized guar gum (90:10), gum Arabic:enzyme depolymerized guar gum (90:10) was 25.66, 38.50, and 17.11 weeks, respectively. The results suggested a combination of radiation depolymerized guar gum and gum Arabic to show better retention of encapsulated flavour than gum Arabic alone as wall material.