Although the health benefits of cornflower extracts are known, their application in food
production has not been widely investigated. This study assessed microencapsulated red powders
(RP) prepared from the aqueous extract of blue cornflower petals. Microencapsulation was performed
by freeze-drying using various stabilizers, such as maltodextrin, guar gum, and lecithin. The mi-
croencapsulated RP were characterized by spectral (FT-IR and FT-Raman), mineral, structural, and
antioxidant analyses. The FT-IR and FT-Raman band related to guar gum, lecithin, and maltodextrin
dominated over the band characteristic of anthocyanins present in the cornflower petal powders. The
main difference observed in the FT-Raman spectra was attributed to a shift of bands which is reflection
of appearance of flavium cation forms of anthocyanins. The microencapsulated RP had total phenolic
content of 21.6–23.4 mg GAE/g DW and total flavonoid content of 5.0–5.23 mg QE/g. The ABTS radi-
cal scavenging activity of the tested powders ranged from 13.8 to 20.2 EC50 mg DW/mL. The reducing
antioxidant power (RED) of the powders was estimated at between 31.0 and 38.7 EC50 mg DW/mL,
and OH• scavenging activity ranged from 1.9 to 2.6 EC50 mg DW/mL. Microencapsulated cornflower
RP can be valuable additives to food such as sweets, jellies, puddings, drinks, or dietary supplements.