Dehydration encapsulated flavors

Dehydration processes offer an economical, simple, and flexible means of producing encapsulated flavorings. Dehydration methods yield a particulate powder that contains active flavor ingredients uniformly distributed in the carrier matrix (matrix encapsulation). While any method of dehydration (tray, vacuum tray, freeze, or drum) can and is used for some applications, spray drying is by far the major process used for flavor encapsulation. 

According to the encapsulation processes used, the matrices of encapsulation can show diverse shapes (films, spheres, irregular particles), structures (porous or compact), physical structures (amorphous or crystalline dehydrated solid, rubbery or glassy matrix). This diversity is responsible for the different diffusion of flavors (Madene et al., 2006). 

Alternative dehydration processes for the encapsulation of flavors include drum (contact) drying, tray drying, and freeze drying [98]. While these processes do not find major use in the industry, they are used in certain applications. These processes and their potential use for flavor encapsulation will be briefly discussed. 

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