| abstract |
A process for the manufacture of an extract of the skin of Goji berries containing zeaxanthin and/or its esters, comprises the following steps: a) obtaining dried skin of Goji berries or the size reduced pieces thereof; and b) extracting the dried skin of Goji berries or the size reduced pieces thereof obtained in step a) with a solvent selected from the group consisting of ethyl acetate, hexane, heptane, petroleum ether, acetone, butane, ethyl methyl ketone, methanol, propan-2-ol and mixtures thereof; and c) removing the solvent from the extracts obtained in step b); and d) optionally cleaving the esters in the dried extracts obtained in step c); and e) optionally crystallizing the dried extracts obtained in step c) or d) in an aliphatic straight or branched CH alcohol. Preferably the process consists only of the step a) to e) given above. |