Acta Scientifica Malaysia (ASM)

A study on “Effects of various processing methods on phytochemical properties of turmeric (Curcuma longa linn.) rhizome var. kapurkot haledo-1” was conducted from February to March 2021 to evaluate the effects of different processing methods on the functional and physio-chemical properties and phytochemical composition of turmeric rhizomes. The trial was carried out with 3 treatments, i.e., T1=Fresh turmeric rhizomes, T2=Blanched/Oven-parched turmeric powder, and T3=Cooked/Oven-parched turmeric powder), with the former comprising the phytochemical analysis of turmeric. Turmeric essential oils were extracted from the treatments via two methods, viz. hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus and cold percolation. For the powdered samples, both methods were applied to extract essential oils, whereas essential oils from fresh samples were extracted via only hydrodistillation. The experiment was replicated twice for each treatment. Phytochemical analysis revealed Turmerone, Altantone < (Z)-γ->, Turmerone-ar, Zingiberene α and Sesquiphellandrene β as the major bioactive compounds found in the essential oils of turmeric rhizomes. The highest number of bioactive compounds (32) was detected in the essential oils extracted from the fresh samples by hydrodistillation, and the lowest number of bioactive compounds (14) was detected in the essential oils extracted from the blanched and cooked powder samples by cold percolation. The chemical composition of essential oils extracted from fresh rhizomes via hydrodistillation differ completely from that of essential oils extracted from processed rhizomes via different methods.