Comparative study on the effect of different methods of drying on Mentha piperita essence

Drying is one of the oldest maintenance crops methods after harvesting. Mentha Piperita being from Piperita family is used as medicinal herb. In the present research to investigate drying methods effect on its essence percentage, with a randomized block design with eight treatments, have done tow tests by natural way, in shade and sun and 6 experiments using microwave and oven, with 3 repetition. Four powers in 100, 300, 600 and 900 watt have been considered for microwave. Also, effect of oven temperatures in 50 and 700C on essence composition content has been investigated. The samples have been harvested from the farm located in Niala of Galugah in 2013. In all experiments, the final weight of samples was %10 base on wet weight. The experimental results show that for number of essence extracts, there were no any significant differences between methods and shade- drying was the best method for higher essence extraction.

Drying, Mentha piperita, essence.