Materials and methods
2.1. Saffron powder preparation
Saffronwas picked before sunlight from a farm around Torbat-EHeydariyeh
(Iran). Stigmas were separated from the other part of
flowers. In order to determine the optimal drying method, three
methods were pre-investigated considering drying at room temperature
(25 C ± 1), dehydration with electrical oven (60 C ± 1),
and microwave drying (1000 W). Our results showed (data not
given) that the highest content of saffron active components (SAC)
was obtained when saffron treated at higher temperatures and
lower times. Among the mentioned methods, drying with microwave
at 1000 W resulted in the least SAC degradation during the
process. Dried stigmas were crashed and sieved (0.421 mm
meshes). Prior to use, the saffron powder was kept in an air-tight
plastic bag within a desiccator at room temperature to prevent
moisture absorption.
GA was provided by SD Fine Chemical Co. Limited, Mumbai
(India). MD with a dextrose equivalent (DE) of 16.5e19 was purchased
from Aldrich (USA). GE (Bovine, Art., 4078) and Ethanol
were supplied by Merck (Germany).