Gac fruit aril has an attractive orange red colour and very high level of carotenoids, giving it exceptional
antioxidant properties. However, spray drying of this material has not been successful and malto dextrin
is considered as a suitable drying aid to preserve its colour and antioxidant properties. This paper reports
the effects of inlet drying air temperature (120, 140, 160, 180 and 200 C) and maltodextrin addition (10%,
20% and 30%) on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the Gac aril powder. Moisture content
and bulk density, colour characteristics, total carotenoid content (TCC), encapsulation efficiency
and total antioxidant activity (TAA) were significantly affected by maltodextrin concentration and the
inlet air temperatures. However, pH, aw and water solubility index were not significantly influenced by
the spray drying conditions. Overall, a good quality Gac powder in terms of colour, TCC and TAA can
be produced by spray-drying at inlet temperature of 120 C and adding maltodextrin concentration at
10% w/v.