Valorization of mucilage from Theobroma cacao L. cultivated in the Colombian Amazon as a sustainable hydrocolloid: Extraction, characterization, and potential application in the food industry

Cocoa mucilage, an agro-industrial by-product generated during cocoa processing, obtained from the Colombian Amazon, represents a sustainable alternative as a potential co-wall material in combination with conventional encapsulating agents for the microencapsulation of bioactive compounds due to its high content of polysaccharides, sugars, and phenolic compounds. In this study, its physicochemical, structural, and bioactive properties were characterized, and its performance, in combination with maltodextrin, as a co-wall material for the spray-drying microencapsulation of a mixture of copoazú ( Theobroma grandiflorum ) and açaí ( Euterpe precatoria ) pulps was subsequently evaluated. A Central Composite Design (CCD) coupled with Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the effects of inlet temperature and the cocoa mucilage:maltodextrin ratio on powder yield, physicochemical properties, phenolic compound content, and antioxidant capacity. The optimal conditions consisted of an inlet temperature of 160 °C and a cocoa mucilage:maltodextrin ratio of 1:1.6, resulting in an overall desirability of 0.74. Results showed good agreement with the values predicted by the models. The resulting microcapsules exhibited low water activity (0.29), a moisture content of 5.87%, hygroscopicity of 21.23 g 100 g −1 , a water solubility index of 31.34%, and a yield of 22.99%. Flavonoids exhibited the highest retention after spray drying, with a retention of 79.52%, suggesting that these compounds were comparatively better preserved during the process and may have contributed to the antioxidant capacity of the resulting powder, particularly as determined by the FRAP assay. These findings indicate that the cocoa mucilage:maltodextrin system is a promising composite wall-material formulation for producing spray-dried powders, while promoting the valorization of an agro-industrial by-product within a circular economy framework and showing potential for the future development of sustainable functional ingredients for food and nutraceutical applications.