The making of red ginger (zingiber officinale rovb. var. rubra) natural essential oil

Abstract

This study aims to 1) learn the production process of red ginger natural essential oil, 2) learn the characteristics of red ginger natural essential oil, and 3) learn the content of red ginger natural essential oil. The research method used was the Research and Development (R&D) model. Distillation was used as the technique of making the essential oil. This study results in the product of good quality red ginger essential oil with high level of purity, as revealed by the result of the rendement test (1022 gram of red ginger for 23 ml, 1000 gram red ginger for 21 ml and 1028 gram red ginger for 23 ml). The result of organoleptic test shows the color of essential oil to be clear yellow with a strong/pungent smell and a little hot and bitter taste. Red ginger essential oil dissolves perfectly in alcohol, with specific gravity values of 0.886, 0.887 and 0.887 and refractive index values as much as 1.480, 1.485 and 1.482. This shows that the produced essential oil has a good quality and high level of purity. The main components of essential oil include E-Cital, Chempene, Cineole and Zingiberene. The results allows for the opportunities to develop red ginger essential oil as aromatherapy for medication and beauty treatment products.