Sustainable valorization of unutilized marigold flowers for eco-friendly herbal gulal production and its storability effects on quality attributes.
Kumar A, Kashyap B, Dhiman SR, Chauhan A, Bhargav B
Floral Waste Upcycling
Those buckets of spent marigold blooms you compost after the season could instead be dried and processed into vivid, skin-safe natural dyes — a craft tradition this research is now putting on a scientific footing.
Every year, huge amounts of marigold flowers are thrown away after religious ceremonies and festivals. Scientists figured out how to turn that floral waste into a colorful, plant-based powder used during celebrations, instead of the synthetic dyes that can irritate skin and pollute water. They tested different ways to store the powder and found that keeping it in a metal container in the fridge works best for maintaining its color and beneficial plant compounds.
Key Findings
Steel containers under cold storage (4°C) preserved the highest levels of phenolic and flavonoid compounds compared to polythene bags or ambient conditions.
Quality was best maintained at the 4-month storage mark, with degradation increasing at 8 and 12 months regardless of packaging.
Marigold cultivar 'Laddu Gainda' harvested in two seasonal windows (August and December) produced gulal with measurable differences in physico-chemical and sensory attributes.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers turned discarded marigold flowers from temples and markets into a safe, biodegradable colored powder (gulal, used in festivals like Holi), finding that cold storage in steel containers best preserved its color quality and antioxidant properties for up to 4 months.
Abstract Preview
Floral waste from temples, markets and public events poses a growing environmental concern due to its high biodegradability and disposal challenges. In this study, a sustainable approach was employ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Ancient DNA Reveals Pre-Columbian Amazonian Forest Management at Scale
Forests and fruits we romanticize as wild — including many plants now in our kitchens and gardens — may exist in their current abundance precisely because an...