RESUMO
Abstract Carotenoids are pigments that can be applied to food but they are unstable towards certain food intrinsic conditions, as well as processing ones. Microencapsulation is an alternative to increasing their stability. This study aimed to produce carotenoids by Phaffia rhodozyma crops and promote their microencapsulation by lyophilization with soy protein as the wall material, in different proportions. High process yield of 96% and encapsulation efficiency of around 65% were observed at the ratios under study. Well-defined and separate micrometer-scale particles with different shapes and sizes were formed and the protection of the compounds of interest was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry which showed that the endothermic event - typical of the free extract after encapsulation - did not occur.