Biological Activities and Optimal Conditions for Making Khlu Tea
This research aims to study the biological activities of Khlu (Pluchea indica (L) Less) for the development of herbal tea. The leaves of Khlu were analyzed, including proximal composition using the AOAC method, antioxidant by DPPH radical scavenging assay, and total phenolic content by Folin-Ciocalteu's method. The sensory quality assessment of Khlu tea with randomized complete block design (RCBD). The mean was analyzed for the variance of ANOVA and analyzed for the difference of mean values using LSD method. The results showed that the fresh and dried leaves of methanol extract were showed the optimal of the DPPH values and the highest of total phenolic content. The optimal condition for the process of making Khlu tea was the temperature at 70 °C for 7 hours. The scores of sensory evaluation in terms of appearance, color, aroma, flavor (astringent) and overall were 7.37 ± 1.22, 7.23 ± 1.16, 6.97 ± 1.30, 7.00 ± 1.14 and 7.63 ± 1.10, respectively. These represent the potential of food crops for food sustainable use of biodiversity.