Introduction: Grape seed oil (GSO) contains unsaturated fatty acids that make it susceptible to degradation, causing it to deteriorate. In this sense, microencapsulation in biopolymer matrices is a good alternative to protect it.
Objective: To microencapsulate GSO by spray drying of emulsions stabilized with biopolymer complexes formed from whey protein concentrate (WPC) and hawthorn pectin (HP) from two different cultivars.
Methodology: Emulsions were developed with different wall material: GSO ratios (2:1 and 3:1) and percentage of total solids (30 and 40 %). The wall materials were WPC-citrus pectin and WPC-HP from two cultivars (HP55 and HP100, with an esterification degree of 70.3 and 61 %, respectively). The factors evaluated were viscosity, mean surface diameter (d_3,2) and morphology of the emulsions, and d_3,2, microencapsulation efficiency (MEE) and electron microscopy of the microcapsules.
Results: The d_3,2 of the emulsions ranged from 1.45 to 2.54 μm, where E_{WPC-HP100,3:1} exhibited the smallest d_3,2. These values were related to the type of pectin and were inversely proportional to the viscosity and solids content. The highest MEE was presented by M_{WPC-HP100,3:1} (71.29 %), which had the highest viscosity and the lowest d_3,2 in the emulsion.
Study limitations: The behavior of only two hawthorn cultivars is presented.
Originality: There are no reports of the use of HP biopolymer complexes from national cultivars and WPC as wall materials for the protection of bioactive materials.
Conclusions: The use of novel biopolymers such as HP (HP55 and HP100) allowed obtaining microcapsules with adequate morphology and high ME

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