Home > Products > Agriculture & Foods > Gardening > Plant Seeds

Turmeric, Curcuma longa L., rhizomes, ground turmeric, turmeric oils, turmeric oleoresin, curcuminoids, curcumin,
sesquiterpenes, marker compounds, adulteration, standardization.

Dried  Whole Rhizome

Preparation: mother rhizomes (egg-shipped primary rhizomes) and finger rhizomes (cylindrical and multibranched secondary rhizomes) are usually boiled separately for about 40-60 min under slightly alkaline conditions in copper, galvanized iron or earth vessels and then sun-dried on bamboo mats for 10-15 days to reduce the moisture to 10-11% Harvest: usually 7-9 months after planting during January-March Appearance: orange-brown, pale yellow or red-yellow Chemical Composition: may contain 3-15% cucuminoids and 1.5 to 5% essential oils.

Uses

Medicine (Rhizoma Curcumae Longae) and process of other turmeric products

Ground Turmeric

Preparation: Powder is prepared from dried finger rhizomes (60-80 mesh)

Appearance: yellow or red-yellow powder

Chemical Composition: The contents of active ingredients curcuminoids and essential oils may decrease

during the process and exposure to light, it is appropriate to pack the powder in a UV protective container

(e.g., fiber hard drums, glass packs, etc.)

Uses

Spice: as alone or in curry powder and pastes dye: for food, textile, cosmetic

Medicine: e.g., in Ayurveda, Chinese medicine

Dietary supplement

Turmeric Oils

Preparation: Extract from dried rhizomes (ground turmeric) or leaves by steam distillation or supercritical

CO2 extraction

Chemical Composition: essential oils from leaves is usually dominated by monoterpenes while the oil

from rhizomes mainly contains sesquiterpenes

Appearance: yellow to brown viscous liquid

Refractive Index: 1.4850-1.5250

Flash Point: 78°C

Solubility in Water: insoluble

Uses

Spice, Medicine & Dietary Supplement

Turmeric Oleoresin

Preparation: Extract from dried rhizomes by solvent extraction with aceone, dichloromethane, 1,2-

dichloroethane, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and light petroleum (hexanes) or supercritical

CO2extraction. Graded by the content of curcuminoids or color value

Chemical Composition: 37-55% curcuminoids and up to 25% essential oil

Appearance: yellow-dark reddish brown oily fluids

Refractive Index: 1.4850-1.5250

Flash Point: 78°C

Solubility in Water: insoluble

Uses

Food Coloring, Medicine & Dietary Supplement

Curcumin

Preparation: obtained by solvent extraction from ground turmeric rhizomes and purification of the extract

by crystallization. The suitable solvents include aceone, carbon dioxide, ethanol, ethyl acetate, hexane,

methanol, , isopropanol

Chemical Composition: the product is often the mixture of curcumin and its demethoxy- and bisdemethoxy-

derivatives in turmeric in varying proportions. The three major curcuminoids may account

no less than 90%. Minor compounds may include oils and resins naturally occurring in turmeric rhizomes

Appearance: yellowish to orange red crystalline powder

Molecular Formula: C21H20O6

Molecular Weight: 368.38

Solubility in Water: insoluble

Uses

Medicine & Dietary Supplement

Variations of Essential Oils

There are significant variations in both content level and constituents of essential oils of turmeric rhizomes with geographical locations. Among the 27 accessions North Indian plains at Lucknow, India, the percentage essential oil content in the fresh rhizomes varied between 0.16% and 1.94% (on a fresh weight basis) [101]. Although usually sesquiterpenes, particularly Ar-turmerone (99), -turmerone (100) [83], and -turmerone (101) are major compounds in turmeric oils in Asia, presence of other compounds in C. longa often vary with various locations. By using GC-MS analysis, Chowdhury and his coworkers identified 54 compounds of essential oils from the “yellow type” of C. longa while only 39 compounds were detected from the “red type” growing in Bangladesh. The essential oil in “yellow type” were dominated by ar-tumorone (99) (27.78%), turmerones (100 and 101) (17.16%), curlone (141) (13.82%), 2-carene (73) (4.78%), zingiberene (124) (4.37%) and - sesquiphellandrene (136) (5.57%), but the “red type” oil mainly contained carvacrol (43) (21.14%), citral (13.91%), methyleugenol (229) (7.31%), geraniol (86) (6.99%), menthol (46) (5.11%) and caryophyllene oxide (168) (4.14%). However, there is no significant difference was observed in essential oil composition between T3C turmeric and Hawaiian red turmeric [79]. Unlike those from Asia, interestingly, turmeric oils from Brazil contained 50-80% of ar-turmerone (99), (Z)--atlantone (137), and (E)--atlantone

(138) [81, 92]. (Z)--atlantone (137) and (E)--atlantone (138) are only found in the turmeric from Brazil. Without information of which cultivars or varieties were used in these studies, however, it is impossible to determine the difference caused by geographical or genetic variation. Constituent of essential oil varies with different species of Curcuma [119- 125]. For example, curcumene, a minor compound in C. longa, is the major constituent (approx. 65%) of the essential oil of Javanese turmeric (C. xanthorrhiza) [46].