Spices and Condiments

Estimation of cumin content

Estimation of curcumin content

• The curcumin content can be estimated adopting the method reported by Manjunath et al. (1991).
  
• For this, the cured rhizomes should be ground to a fine powder and 0.1 g of the powder should be extracted with 40 ml of distilled alcohol by refluxing over a water-cooled condenser for 2 1/2 hours.
  
• The extract should then be filtered into a 100 ml volumetric flask and made up to volume with alcohol.
  
• An aliquot of 5 ml should be transferred to a 100 ml volumetric flask and again the volume is made up.
  
• The absorbance of the solution can be measured at 425 nm with alcohol as the blank.
  
• The curcumin content in the sample can be calculated using the absorbance value of a standard solution of curcumin (0.00025 g/100 ml has an absorbance of 0.42), adopting the following formulae:
0.00025 x absorbance of sample x 100 x 100

Curcumin content = ----------------------------------------------------------------------

(Per cent by weight) absorbance of standard x weight of sample x 5


Curcumin is highly aromatic with a musky odour and a pungent bitter taste. When it comes into contact with alkali it turns red and is called 'Kum kum'.