Effect drying process of white turmeric herb (Curcuma mangga) on antioxidant activity

Curcuma mangga is one of the herbal rhizome plants. It has good benefits as Curcuma longa, and it has advantage of having aroma like a mango. This study aims to determine the effect of drying process of Curcuma mangga herb toward antioxidant activity. There are eight drying variations (oven drying at 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90°C, sun drying, room temperature, and freeze drying). Extraction of Curcuma mangga powder was carried out by maceration using aquadest, this study didn't used organic solvents because the solvent for herbal drink is water (aquadest). Curcuma mangga extract was analysed for its stability in room temperature, FTIR analysis, and antioxidant activity analysis using 0.02% DPPH. The entire process in this research was replicated three times and average results were obtained. Based on the results, it can be seen that Curcuma mangga extracts are not stable at room temperature (maximum at 6 hours). Based on spectra FTIR results, Curcuma mangga extracts have polar functional group because the solvent used for extraction is aquadest which is polar solvent. The best antioxidant activity results (%AA) of Curcuma mangga is vacuum freeze drying process with an IC50 value 106.95 ppm, it was classified as a moderate antioxidant.