Impact of Sun Drying on Quality Characteristics of Turmeric Rhizomes Jeevarathinam G.*, Pandiarajan T. Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu *Email: jeevathefoodengineer@gmail.com
Online published on 2 January, 2017. Abstract In raw turmeric rhizomes, boiling and drying, is very important for the development of anattractive yellow colour (mostly due to curcumin) and aroma, and the quality of the final product. Turmeric finger rhizomes (var: Erode) was dried under sun to reduce the moisture content from 85 to 7.4% (w.b.). The effect of sun drying method on the key biochemical constituents such as curcumin, essential oil, oleoresin and starch of boiled turmeric was studied. The quality of the turmeric rhizomes as influenced by the biochemical constituents varied at various levels of moisture content (from 85 to 7.4% (w.b.). The study indicated that the boiling and drying intensified the curcumin and starch content in all slice-bed thickness (5–25 mm, 5–50 mm, 10–25 mm, 10–50 mm, layer-1 and layer-2) while the essential oil and oleoresin content progressively decreased as the moisture content decreased. The results showed that 10–50 mm slice-bed thickness were found to be better for curcumin and for essential oil and oleoresin 5–25 mm slice-bed thickness and for starch content layer-1, showed good results respectively. Top Keywords Turmeric rhizomes, sun drying, curcumin, essential oil, oleoresin and starch. Top |