[Abstract]Saffron, a precious spice and a traditional medicinal herb in the international trade market, has attracted much attention about its quality evaluationSaffron has been successfully cultivated in some areas in China,such as Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, but few studies were focused on the quality difference between saffron cultivated in China and in foreign countries, which obstructed the entrance of saffron cultivated in China into international trade market The paper is to review the current research progress on quality evaluation of saffron from the following respects: the chemical composition, the identification of authenticity and adulterants, the detection of artificial colorants, the indexes and methods of quality evaluation,the quality evaluation of different specifications in the international trade market, and the parameters which affected the quality of saffron
[Key words]saffron; quality evaluation; research progress
西t花為鳶尾科植物番紅花Crocus sativus L 的干燥柱頭,主產于伊朗、希臘、印度、西班牙、意大利、摩洛哥等地[1-2]。唐代時,西紅花由印度經傳入我國,因此又稱為番紅花、藏紅花。目前已在上海、浙江、江蘇、河南等地形成規模種植。作為傳統香料的西紅花,也是傳統的中草藥,具有活血化瘀、涼血解毒、解郁安神等功效[3-5]。現代藥理研究表明,西紅花具有抗精神失常[6-9]、抗腫瘤[10]、降血糖[11-12]等作用。
ISO-3632以西紅花水提液在西紅花苷、藏紅花醛、藏紅花苦素最大吸收波長處的吸光度值來考察西紅花樣品的色度、香氣、苦味,進而對樣品進行等級劃分,其中,樣品色度和苦味的強弱是劃分西紅花樣品等級的主要因素,見表2。近年來,一些科研工作者考察了西紅花 ISO 等級劃分標準與西紅花指標成分含量的相關性。采用HPLC,Campo等測定了Ⅱ級與Ⅲ級西紅花中藏紅花苦素的含量,結果表明,2個等級樣品中藏紅花苦素的含量無明顯差別[61]。Bononi等的研究結果表明,西紅花中藏紅花醛的含量與ISO項下330 nm(藏紅花醛的紫外最大吸收波長)的吸光度值沒有相關性[55]。
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