ABSTRACT
Climatic Conditions................................................................................................ 211 9.1.2 Effect of the Residual Water Content in the Dried Product.................................. 212 9.1.3 Formation of Coarse Powder in the Raw Material................................................ 212 9.1.4 Unfavorable Physical and Biochemical Reactions that can Lead to a Loss
of Active Ingredients .............................................................................................. 212 9.1.5 Attacks by Insects and Pests (Stock Pests) ........................................................... 212 9.1.6 Shrinkage Losses Caused by Changing of Constituents that are not
Essential Oils .......................................................................................................... 213 9.2 Required Storage Conditions ............................................................................................. 213 9.3 Storage Room ..................................................................................................................... 214 9.4 Changes in the Essential Ingredients During Storage ....................................................... 214 9.5 Packaging............................................................................................................................ 217 9.6 Storage Management .......................................................................................................... 218 References .................................................................................................................................... 219
Freshly dried chamomile flowers and herbs are very storage-sensitive products, even if complete drying of the receptacles has been achieved after a few days. The most important causes of deterioration in quality after drying are the following conditions, which must generally also be considered in terms of the product physiology:
Because the dried plant chamomile organs contain a large proportion of hydrophilic constituents (sugars, flavonoids, mucilages, phenyl carbonic acids, amino acids, choline, salts), chamomile flowers in particular, but also the chamomile herbs are very hygroscopic products. Their moisture content can therefore adopt the surrounding microclimatic conditions very quickly, absorbing moisture from the air in the stack or room very fast. This means that the water content of the dry product very soon exceeds the limit of the physiological water activity of ϕ = > 0.60, which is responsible for microbiological deterioration. This causes a wide range of reactions: Purely biochemical transformations occur more frequently, leading to discoloration, especially of parts of the plant that were previously damaged by pressure, heat, or a deficiency of oxygen. In the green leaves and stems, there is a breakdown of the chlorophyll that is responsible for the green color impression of the plants, and phaeophytin forms at the same time. In the tongue and tube blossoms, the white and yellow colors fade, through undesirable reactions occurring with the colorings in question.
