Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
T Venkateshwari, S Ganapathy, R Arulmari and P Vijayakumary

Abstract:
Turmeric is processed in a series of operational steps which includes boiling, drying and polishing. Each process has its own importance to get a quality end product. The moisture content of fresh, boiled and dried turmeric was 342% d.b, 485% d.b. and 9% d.b. respectively. The main objective of this research was to study the effect of drying temperature on drying time and curcumin content of the turmeric rhizomes. The study was conducted in a flat-bed dryer at different temperatures of 50, 60 and 70℃. The results revealed that the curcumin content of the turmeric rhizomes decrease as the drying temperature increased. The curcumin content of the fresh rhizomes was observed as 1.783%. After boiling, the curcumin percentage was increased due to its uniform distribution. The drying temperature had inverse relationship with the curcumin percentage of the turmeric. It was also revealed that the drying temperature had impact on the drying time. As the drying temperature increases, the drying time to reach the safe moisture level was found to decrease. Thus, the most appropriate drying condition would be the one which has lesser drying time along with good retention of the curcumin percentage.