Enhanced Antioxidant Properties in Functional Ice Cream Through Encapsulation of Pulsed Electric Field-Assisted Artemisia campestris Extract

Medicinal plants represent a good source of natural bioactive compounds that provide a multitude of biological activities that allow them to be incorporated into new functional food for a long shelf-life, high antioxidant properties, and better flavoring. The aim of this study was to produce an encapsulated Artemisia campestris L. extract and to use it as a natural ingredient for formulating a functional ice cream. The total phenolic content (TPC) was extracted after pulsed electric field pretreatment under optimized conditions obtained with response surface methodology for a high yield of TPC. The TPC yield achieved 1168.187 μg_GAE/100 g with a Voltage (7Kv/cm) and pulse number (95.57). For IC50 (concentration of the antioxidant compound that is necessary for the DPPH radical concentration to reach 50% of the initial value) was 2.78 ± 0 mg/mL, representing a good antioxidant activity in addition to a high ferric reducing antioxidant power value of 245.053mg_FeSO4/g_DM. The encapsulated extract was obtained using a spray dryer device using maltodextrin, gum arabic, and pectin as coating materials, and some physico-chemical properties were tested. The combination of 15% maltodextrin and 2% pectin resulted in a high powder yield. Moreover, the results revealed that the concentration of maltodextrin did not significantly affect the lightness of the powder, moisture content, water activity, solubility, bulk, and tapped density. Nevertheless, the coating materials influenced TPC yield and the encapsulation process was found to be a powerful tool to enhance DPPH scavenging activity. Ice cream acceptance was related to the use of the different encapsulated extracts, and according to the results of the sensory test, S3 was the most satisfactory ice cream characterized by the lowest overrun, high melting resistance, and the lowest adhesiveness. The findings of this work showed that encapsulated Artemisia campestris L. extract may be a good natural ingredient added to future innovative food.