Stability of blueberry (Cornus mas– Yulyush) anthocyanin pigment under pH and co-pigment treatments

In this study, the effects of different pH values and co-pigments, including tannic, caffeic, benzoic, and coumaric acids, in various concentrations on anthocyanin co-pigment complexes (ratio 1:1) were investigated. The anthocyanin was extracted from a round sweet variety of blueberry and subjected to the highest co-pigment concentration (960 mg/l) at different pH values. The results showed that caffeic acid produced the highest stability of anthocyanin compared to the other co-pigments. In addition, benzoic acid had the lowest hyperchromic and bathochromic changes. A positive correlation was found between the co-pigment concentrations and the stability of anthocyanin as well as hyperchromic and bathochromic changes. The results also demonstrated that higher pH values resulted in further destruction of anthocyanin. Furthermore, the absorption rate of anthocyanin in the anthocyanin–co-pigment complex within lower pH values was more compared with the higher ones. The strongest hyperchromic and bathochromic effects for all organic acids were observed in pH values 1 and 4, respectively. It can be concluded that among the tested co-pigments, caffeic acid was the best co-pigment, while benzoic acid was the weakest, which was not suitable for anthocyanin in the round sweet variety of blueberry.