Methods for colchicine elimination to improve safety in fresh daylily flowers processing

To assure the food safety of daylily flowers, some simple and practical methods for decreasing colchicine content in fresh daylily flower were introduced, and the applicability of these methods was analysed and compared in this study. Results indicated that treatment of high temperature (> 60°C), stream blanching, boiling water blanching, NaHCO 3 solution soaking and sodium chloride pickling were more effective methods for decreasing colchicine content in fresh daylily flowers; in contrast, colchicine content increased at 4°C and 30°C. Stream blanching, boiling water blanching, NaHCO 3 solution soaking and sodium chloride pickling were suitable for household; however, for enterprises, high temperature and stream blanching treatments were recommended.