An Anthocyanin Recovery System from Cranberry Pomace1

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Abstract
Anthocyanin content is one of the limiting factors in the production of cranberry juice cocktail, yet the press cake contains approximately 40% of the pigment of the berries. The pigment can be recovered by extracting the pomace with methanol containing 0.03% HCl. Other solvents are less effective. A single extraction from whole ground pomace at a 5:1 solvent:pomace ratio will extract approximately 50% of the pigment. A multiple extraction will remove over 90%. Grinding the pomace reduces the time of extraction from several hours to less than ½ hr. The methanol in the pigment solution can be removed by distillation under vacuum and the resulting aqueous solution absorbed on an Amberlite C G-50 resin. The resin absorbs the anthocyanin and many of the impurities can be rinsed off the column with water. The pigments can be eluted with 0.0001% HCl in ethanol and concentrated to provide a concentrate for addition back to the juice.