The essential oil content in caraway species (Carum carvi L.)

Abstract

Caraway fruits contain 1–6% of essential oils consisting of about 30 compounds, from which carvone and limonene account form the main portion, about 95%. To evaluate the quality of various caraway cultivars, the amounts of essential oils and the carvone/limonene ratio were measured. The most common method of essential oil evaluation is steam distillation in accordance with Standard ČSN 58 0110, but an alternative method – supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) – was also investigated in this paper. Ground caraway fruits were extracted under different SFE conditions (pressure, temperature, use of modifiers). Released compounds (carvone and limonene) were quantified by GC.