The aroma compositions and essential oil contents extracted from small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) dried at three temperatures using a hot air convective dryer was studied by chromatographic methods. The major compounds in the dried samples were 1,8-cineole (7.23-11.76%) and α-Terpinyl acetate (61.65-68.19%) that were responsible for the specific aroma. The extracted essential oil was found to be majorly composed of alkenes (33-42%), alcohols (18-30%) and esters (18-22%) with acids, alkyls and ketones. The changes in esters and alcohols with drying time were more significant (p < 0.05) than acids, alkenes and aldehydes at all three temperatures. The data were analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. The analyses indicated that the compounds varied significantly (p < 0.05) with drying temperatures. The PCA revealed that there was overall 66.47, 75.96 and 78.25% cumulative data variance among the constituents of essential oils of cardamom samples dried at 40, 50 and 60 °C respectively. The samples showed a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in aroma constituents after 26, 18 and 16 h of drying at 40, 50 and 60 °C respectively.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-022-05560-8.
Keywords: Essential oil; Principal component analysis; Small cardamom.
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