Abstract

                               Corn silk is the white and brown tipped tassels that surround an ear of corn which goes as a waste during processing. It is an excellent source of many bioactive compounds and natural antioxidants. The corn silks have been used in the traditional herbal medicine in South East Asian counties like China, Korea etc. There are ample opportunities to convert such a waste into valueadded product to be used as a health supplement in the Indian market. The dried corn silk could be pulverized and effectively used to prepare herbal beverage. This study aimed to convert the raw corn silk extracted from fresh corn into a value added product by drying the whole as well as chopped corn silk at different temperatures viz., 40, 50 and 60°C in a cabinet dryer. The effect of drying on changes in the structure ascribed by shrinkage percentage and rehydration ratio
was observed after drying. The dried corn silk was pulverised in a laboratory mill to a smooth fineness. Herbal drink was prepared from corn silk powder obtained at different temperatures of drying and the quality was assessed by subjective evaluation. The drying characteristics of corn silk revealed that at 60°C temperature, drying was faster for both whole and chopped corn silk. It took 120 min to dry whole corn silk from an initial moisture content of 100% (d.b) to final moisture of 13.7 % (d.b). Shrinkage percentage (12.5%) was highest for the sample dried at 60˚C in the case of whole corn silk, indicating more moisture depletion compared to 40 and 50°C temperature drying. The highest value of rehydration ratio (5.16) was observed for the whole corn silk dried at 60˚C. The sensory scores on taste, flavour, appearance and overall acceptability revealed that herbal drink prepared from whole corn silk dried at 60˚C temperature was highly preferred.

Key words : Corn silk, Drying, Structural changes, Herbal drink, Sensory scores