Comparative Chemical Profiles of Essential Oil of Nutmeg Flesh (Myristica fragrans Houtt) Through Multiple Drying Methods

Abstract

Nutmeg is a spice plant with high economic value, especially mace and seeds, which are processed into nutmeg oil. Nutmeg oil is widely applied in various industries so that it becomes a potential export commodity. Nutmeg flesh is underutilized and generally becomes waste. The essential oil content is affected by the pre-treatment of the raw materials, including the drying process. This study aimed to determine the profile of the active compound of the essential oil of nutmeg flesh obtained from different drying methods. This nutmeg flesh was dried using different drying methods, i.e., shade dried, sun dried, cabinet dried and fresh. The essential oil is extracted from the nutmeg flesh using hydro-distillation and analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The highest essential oil components were obtained by sun-drying (38 components) followed by cabinet-drying (32 components), shade-drying (30 components) and fresh (25 components). The content of the major secondary metabolites obtained included α-pinene, α-terpinene, αterpineol, β-pinene, limonene, γ-terpinene, terpinene-4-ol, and myristicin. Myristicin, as a typical compound of nutmeg oil has different intensities, where the highest myristicin was obtained by shade dried (18.8%), followed by cabinet dried (15.6%), sun dried (12.2%) and fresh (0%).