Flavour quality of fresh and dried Indian thyme Thymus vulgaris (L.).

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) is characterised by a
phenol-rich aroma and finds extensive use in
Indian culinary besides pharmaceutical
preparations. The essential oil of thyme, obtained
by hydrodistillation, was found to contain 26
flavour components, of which 17 were identified
using GC and GC-MS. Thymol was a major
constituent (60.1%) of the oil followed by
γ-terpinene and p-cymene. Fresh thyme was
subjected to different drying methods such as
cross flow, through flow and freeze drying and
also shade drying. Shade drying was a timeconsuming
process (120 h) during which most
of the monoterpenes were lost due to
volatilization. Thymol was retained in all the
dried samples. Considering the time of drying
and the flavour quality of the dried herb,
through flow drying (4O°C, 8.5h) was found to
be a method of choice.