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Effect of Drying Conditions on Physicochemical and Antioxidant Properties of V itex agnus‐castus Leaves
Author(s) -
Vuong Quan V.,
Zammit Nicholas,
Munro Benjamin R.,
Murchie Shane,
Bowyer Michael C.,
Scarlett Christopher J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of food processing and preservation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.511
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1745-4549
pISSN - 0145-8892
DOI - 10.1111/jfpp.12506
Subject(s) - vitex , vacuum drying , freeze drying , food science , antioxidant , chemistry , pulp and paper industry , antioxidant capacity , moisture , traditional medicine , materials science , chromatography , biochemistry , medicine , organic chemistry , engineering
Vitex agnus‐castus ( V itex AC ) leaves have been used for medicinal purposes for many years. Drying is important to prepare starting materials for further processing, as it is associated with production cost and quality of the materials. Herein, the effects of five different drying conditions on the physical, chemical and antioxidant properties of V itex AC were evaluated. The results showed that 30% of dried leaves with moisture content of less than 7% could be produced from fresh leaves. V itex AC leaves dried by freeze and vacuum drying at 65C had higher levels of bioactive compounds as well as higher antioxidant capacity in comparison with other drying conditions, revealing that these drying conditions are more suitable for drying V itex AC leaves. However, freeze drying is costly and time‐consuming; thus, vacuum drying at 65C is suggested for drying the V itex AC leaves as the starting materials for further processing steps. Practical Applications As drying is an important process to prepare starting materials for further processing steps, it is important to compare different drying methods to identify the most suitable method with low cost and less effect on material quality. The results showed that inappropriate drying conditions resulted in big loss of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity. Vacuum drying at 65C was found to be the most suitable method, which can be easily applied for drying V itex agnus‐castus leaves in the industrial scale.