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Fatty Acid and Sterol Profile of Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)and Star Anise (Illicium verum) Extracted Using Three Different Methods

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) and star anise (Illicium verum) are popular spices worldwide originally from South East part of Asia. In addition to as food condiment, they have been used extensively in traditional medicine and lately as a subject of research in the field of pharmacology and medical sciences. Most research has been done on the subject of essential oils, especially for star anise, while data on seed oil properties are much scarcer. The main problem in the oil extraction of nutmeg is the hardness of the nut, while, for star anise seed, it is relatively low oil yield (around 10%). This presents a significant problem for screw press production and demands different methods of extraction for better oil yield and quality. The aim of this research was to compare three different methods of oil extraction with n-hexane agitation-assisted extraction (AAE), Soxhlet extraction (SE), and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) at 25 and 100 °C and to compare the processes on the basis of invested time, oil yield, and fatty acid and sterol profile of the oils. The determination of fatty acid composition was carried out by GC–flame ionization detection (FID) analysis of fatty acid methyl esters, while the sterol composition was determined with GC–MS. The highest yield of oil was obtained using the Soxhlet method, while the best results combining time and yield were obtained with the ASE method at 100 °C. The main fatty acid in star anise seed oil was lauric acid (average 62.30%) with significant differences across extraction methods ( p < 0.05), while myristic acid (average 75.69%) was the most abundant in all samples of nutmeg oil. The main sterol in all samples was β-sitosterol.

nutmeg ; star anise ; fatty acids ; sterols ; accelerated solvent extraction

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