Essential oil of nutmeg (Myristica fragrans houtt) is one of the many potentials of nutmeg that has a high economic value although in North Sulawesi it has not been exploited to its full potential. This research was conducted to compare the yield and properties of Nutmeg oil extract from the seeds and mace of Talaud and North Minahasa-North Sulawesi. The oil extract was obtained by distillation and was further characterized in terms of color, solubility in ethanol, density, optical rotation, refractive index.  Results of this research exhibited that oil of the mace of nutmeg from Talaud had a lighter appearance in color compared to that from North Minahasa, while the density of oil extracted from North Minahasa was more densed compared to Talaud in both seed and mace (0.923 and 0.938 respectively at 25°C). The reflective index of nutmeg oil from North Minahasa was slightly higher than of Talaud both from seed and mace (1.4834 and 1.493 at 25°C), while the optical rotations of oil extracted from the mace were between +6.90° to +9.80° and from the seed were +20.73° to +22.30°.

By reviewing various works of research by many experts on tea, this mini review elaborates the picture of catechins in tea, especially green tea, and their applications as potential antimicrobial agents. Tea originated in China as a drink with medicinal purposes and to be grew a worldwide beverage. Green tea undergoes minimum oxidation process compared to black tea, thus it may contain the same pharmacological bioactive components, but in different concentrations, except for theaflavins and thearubigens that are mainly found in black tea. Phytochemical screening of green tea leaves revealed various polyphenols, mainly catechins, which play multiple essential roles in plant physiology and have potential health properties and benefits on human health, such as antioxidants, as well as anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antihypertensive, and as antimicrobial agents. Green tea polyphenolic EGCG has the capability to cross-link with many proteins which grants it a wide range of antimicrobial activities possibly by damaging microbial cytoplasmic lipids and proteins. The high concentrations of catechins in tea (Camellia sinensis) were reported to have antimicrobial activities against many pathogens including Listeria monocytogenes, a gram-positive bacterium known to be isolated from red meat, therefore making tea catechin an effective antimicrobial agent. In a study model applying up to 1000 ppm tea catechin extract to a biodegradable film, it proved beneficial for home-use wraps for meat, poultry, and seafood, thus expressing the strong potential of tea catechin as an organic antimicrobial agent.

North Sulawesi is located in the North-Eastern regions of the Indonesian Archipelago. As it is with most parts of Indonesia, North Sulawesi is dependent on rice as their staple food. Not all islands within the North Sulawesi cluster of islands can grow paddy or corn for their carbohydrate needs or starch ingredients in their diet and must have them shipped from other places with the dire consequences of transportation costs. The endemic biodiversity of these islands also has many plants with the potential as an alternative food carbohydrate source. This study was to explore these endemic plants for potential food ingredients for starch replacements for rice and corn. The many diversities available for these starch ingredients amongst them are tuber sources (Taro – Colocasia esculenta, Dalugha – Cyrtosperma merkusii, Gembili – Discorea esculenta and Banggai – Discorea alata) and perimedular sources (Sago Tanah and Sago Baruk). Many studies have researched these plants individually in various originating from many other parts of the world, but not many have made a head-to-head comparison and explored the potentials of these underutilized plants as starch food ingredients. This study extracted starches of these plants in a standardized manner and compared the properties side-by-side. These plants were found to be potentially healthy alternatives to rice as functional food starch with lower digestibility which would lead to lower GI staples, especially for the livelihoods of North Sulawesi coastal dwellers.

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