An improved process for the preparation of bland turmeric powder with enhanced curcuminoids

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) belongs to the family Zingiberaceae, has been known for its flavouring/colouring properties. India has 149410 hectares area under cultivation with a annual production of 5,27,960 tones.. The commercially important turmeric products are turmeric powder and oleoresin. However, the above products have strong flavour and bitter taste, hence undesirable for colouring/flavouring food products. Thus, the oleoresin is further subjected to crystallization of relatively high purity colourant i.e. water insoluble curcuminoids (90-95 %) and generates waste called curcumin removed turmeric oleoresin (CRTO) having about 15-16% uncrystallisable curcuminoids. The present new colourant (bland turmeric powder) is prepared by treating turmeric powder with two selected solvents/solvent mixture in two stages to selectively remove non-colouring constituents (viz. bitter principles, aroma, fatty oil, resinous matter etc.). This colourant can be used to impart yellow colour to food products prepared in powder/semi-liquid/liquid form for example gillebi, boondi, milk, milk products, bakery products, puddings, beverages etc., which over comes the problem of application of pure curcuminoids in aqueous preparation and also CRTO waste generation. The colourant containing 2.5% curcuminoids required to impart optimum yellow colour to above said preparations is in the range of 0.05 to 0.15%. The by-product is light yellowish mild turmeric flavoring, which can be used in food and pharmaceutical applications.