Study on extraction natural red pigment form pitaya skin

Pitaya(Hylocereus undutusL) peel pigment,a natural pigment extracted from pitaya peel,is a by-product during the processing of pitaya.The pigment has multiple advantages such as natural,nutritional,multi-functional.It has a good application in food industry,cosmetics manufacturing and m any other fields as additives.This experiment discussed the comprehensive utilization,the additional value and potential application of the pigment.The extracting condition of red pigment from the pitaya peel was studied.Pitaya peel was used as raw materials and pigment was extracted by solvent extraction.The influence factors such as storage of raw material,the type of the extract solvents and its ratio,the extraction time and the temperature,the pH on yield of pigment were studied.The optimum technological conditions were: refrigerator storage of pitaya peel,deionized water extraction at ratio of 5∶ 1,extraction 30 min,50 °C,pH 6.