Effects of drying, fermented and unfermented tea of Ocimum tenuiflorum Linn. on the antioxidant capacity

Antioxidant capacity of Ocimum tenuiflorum L. or ‘ruku’ were determined in this study. Fresh leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum was subjected to freeze drying, vacuum drying and processed into fermented and unfermented tea. The samples were extracted using distilled water and the total phenolics, total flavonoids, condensed tannin content, anthocyanins and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were assessed, measured with ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 1,1-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) assays. The results showed that drying the fresh leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum and processing them into tea leaves significantly increase (P 0.05) the antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and condensed tannin content. However, anthocyanins content showed reduction after drying. In the present study, it can be concluded that the vacuum drying method seem to produce a product with higher quality of antioxidant properties than freeze drying. Hence, vacuum drying can be used to replace freeze drying as it is also cheaper than freeze drying.