*2.8. Spay-Drying*

The samples were dried by a spray-drying technique according to the work of Moser et al., namely, by using 80% of maltodextrin or 80% of a mixture maltodextrin:arabic gum (1:1, *w*/*w*), as drying the adjuvants was aimed at analyzing the efficiency of the drying process and the adequacy of the use of maltodextrin and arabic gum materials [16]. The latter's material's percentage of 80% was relative to the total solids content of the prepared samples, and it was selected after an optimization study involving the testing of different percentages of maltodextrin or the mixture of maltodextrin + arabic gum; it was found that the samples with 80% arabic gum materials was the one that led to higher process yields. The solutions of haskap juice with the selected materials were prepared immediately before atomization. Briefly, the haskap juice samples were mixed with the drying adjuvants and thereafter homogenized by stirring for 10 min at room temperature. The used spray-drying equipment was a Mini Spray Dryer B-290 Büchi (Flawil, Switzerland) programmed in the normal operation mode (nozzle diameter: 0.7 mm; atomized volume: 200 mL, solids content < 33%). After an optimization process, the optimal operation conditions were established as having an inlet temperature of 140 ◦C, outlet temperature of 72 ◦C, aspiration 90%, and the pump working at 20% (6 mL/min). The yield of the process was calculated as being the ratio between the weight of the obtained powder (dry basis) and the weight of the solid content of the initial atomized solution in dry basis.

After spray-drying, a portion of each powdered sample was used to perform the required analyses immediately after preparation (t0) and the remaining amount was divided into 2 equal portions, in sterile flasks protected from light, stored at room (23 ◦C) and refrigerated (3 ◦C) temperatures, respectively.
