The Food Color Extraction from Gardenia Fruit (Gardenia jasminodes Ellisforma var gardiflora Makino) : The Appropriate Extraction Conditions

Abstract

Moisture and fat contents of the fresh and the dried gardenia fruits were investigated. The results showed that the moisture content in the fresh fruits was higher than that in the dried fruits and the fat content in the fruits was higher than that in the pericarp. It was also found that the fat content did affect the color extraction efficiency. Methanol and water were the best solvents for color extraction. Addition of acid to the solvents did increase the solubility of the color pigments but decreased the stability of the color extract. The appropriate temperature and time needed for extraction when water employed as the extraction solvent were 70-80°C and 5-10 minutes respectively. The extraction with stirring process did not increase the extraction efficiency. However, when methanol was used as the extraction solvent, the efficiency of extraction increase and the appropriate temperature and time for extraction was 60°C and 30 minutes respectively. The appropriate volume of solvent, either water or methanol for 1g Gardenia fruit sample was 200 mililiters. According to the results carried out by TLC, UV-Spectrophotometer, Infra-Red Spectrophotometer and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, they revealed that the gardenia fruit color extract was Crocin. The evaluation of gardenia fruit color extract as food colorant indicated that the color extract could be used as food colorant i.e. yellow food color.