Red beet betalains, grape anthocyanins, and their mixtures were used as
colorants in white currant juice. Storage stability of the compounds was
evaluated using liquid chromatography and the degradation kinetic order
and parameters were calculated. Degradation of betalains followed
first-order kinetics, while the degradation of anthocyanins did not have
any trend toward any order kinetics. The coexisting anthocyanins and
their concentration affected the rate constant of betalains. Betalains
degraded faster than anthocyanins, their mixtures promoted respective
degradation. Pyruvate derivatives of anthocyanins showed better
stability. During storage, all samples became more yellowish with CIELab
method and lighter in color. In the projective mapping sensory test,
samples were distinguished by the colorant type as the main criteria and
the storage time as the second criteria. Anthocyanin (described as
‘dark’ and ‘natural’) was preferred by sensory panelists over betalain
(described as ‘pink’ and ‘unnatural’), as were the fresh samples over
stored samples.