The use of a natural food colorant is recently of interest from the health benefit viewpoint. Gac
aril has been reported to be a potential raw material for production of food colorant since it contains
significant amounts of β-carotene and lycopene that are responsible for a yellow red color. However, drying
which is an important step for a food colorant production may cause losses of those compounds in Gac aril.
This study was aimed to investigate the effect of hot air drying temperature (60-80°C) on the evolutions and
retention of β-carotene and lycopene in Gac aril. Color of the dried Gac aril was also determined. The results
illustrated that both β-carotene and lycopene significantly degraded during drying. Higher drying temperature
made higher degradation rate of β-carotene and lycopene. However, the drying temperature did not
significantly affect the color of dried samples. Hot air drying at 60°C of Gac aril was recommended for
producing natural food colorant by providing the highest retention of β-carotene and lycopene.