Saffron pigment

Textiles may be colored with natural colorants such as saffron or curcumin. Saffron pigments can be extracted from cotton and wool fibers using a pyridine-water mixture (25/75 v v). This method is, however, not able to extract curcumin from the same fibers (Tsatsaroni et al, 1998). 

The use of natural pigments for food applications is gaining soil from day to day [95]. Curcumin, betaine, amarathine, anthocyanins and P-carotene are the most common and widely used pigments [95,96], Saffron s coloring properties attributed mainly to water-soluble carotenoids are used for coloring of foods. The stability of these saffron pigments in aqueous... 

The dye molecule in saffron is the carotenoid beta-gentiobiose crocetin. It is related to beta-carotene, and you can see the relationship in the center of the molecule. That center portion is the carotenoid pigment crocetin ... 

To extract and evalnate the color pigments from cochineals Dactylopius coccus Costa), a simple method was developed. The procednre is based on the solvent extraction of insect samples nsing methanol and water (65 35, v/v) and a two-level factorial design to optimize the solvent extraction parameters temperature, time, methanol concentration in mixtnre, and yield. For hydrophilic colorants that are more sensitive to temperatnre, water is the solvent of choice. For example, de-aerated water extraction at low temperatnre was applied to separate yellow saffrole and carthamine from saffron (Carthamus tinctorius) florets that contain about 1% yellow saffrole and 0.3% red carthamine. ... 

Watanabe, T. et al., Separation and determination of yellow and red Safflower pigments in food by capillary electrophoresis, Biosci. Biotech. Biochem., 61, 1179, 1997. Fekrat, H., The application of crocin and saffron ethanol-extractable components in formulation of health care and beauty care products. Proceedings of International Symposium on Saffron Biology and Biotechnology, Fernandez, J.A. and Abdullaev, R, Eds., Albacete, Spain, 2004, p. 650. 

Saito, K., A new enzymatic method for extraction of precarthamin from dyer s saffron (Carthamus tinctorius) florets, Z. Lebensmitt. Untersuch. Forsch., 197, 34, 1993. Cserhati, T. et ah. Separation and quantitation of colour pigments of chili powder (Capsicum frutescens) by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection, J. Chromatogr. A, 896, 69, 2000. 

Saito, K. and Kawasaki, H. Comparative studies on the distribution of quinoidal chalcone pigments in extracts from insect wastes and intact tissues of dyer s saffron florets, Zeits. Lebens, Unter. Forsch., 194, 131, 1992. 

The colorants from saffron have enjoyed good technological success as colorants and spices but their high price has led to searches for other sources of the same pigments. The pigments, but not the flavor, can be obtained in much larger quantities from the fmits of the gardenia or Cape jasmine plant.33... 

Use of organic pigments was extensive. In this project, they were not identified chemically, but were identified tentatively through comparison with known microscopic samples. For example, on this basis, it was concluded that the organic yellow samples were probably not saffron. 

Indian red. (iron saffron). A red (maroon) pigment made by calcining copperas to obtain red ferric oxide. Fine particle size. 

Saffron, an extract of flowers of Crocus sativus, contains the water-soluble pigment crocin the digentiobioside of apocarotenic acid, crocetin zeaxanthin, a P-carotene and characteristic flavoring compounds. The yellow color of this pigment is attractive in beverages, cakes, and other bakery products. However, use of this colorant is restricted by its high price. 

An illustration is given by the stigma of saffron that are shaken during 30 minutes in cold water (4°C). The solution is heated to 60 °C for 30 minutes and allowed to stand in the dark for 24 hours. The clear supernatant contains the pigments (Tsatsaroni et al., 1998). 

Crocin or saffron extracts together with other natural pigments such as berberine, azulen, curcumin, betanin, etc have been used as a hair dye [93]. In a US Patent [94] a scalp treatment composition is described for scalp and hair health and growth containing saffron, among the other plant extracts. 

Saffron (from Arabic zafaran=to be yellow). The dried, aromatic-smelling flowerheads of the saffron plant Crocus sativus, Iridaceae), indigenous to southern Europe, which contain the yellow pigment crocin (see crocetin) and the bitter principle picrocrocin (saffron bitter, see safranal). Characteristic flavor com-... 

Organic dyes Cochineal, madder, kermes, saffron, purple, indigo, etc. Colorants for dying textiles, organic pigments (lakes), ingredients in cosmetics... 

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