[zanearaki]

So I'm about to run the first step of my experiment, which involved steaming  the plant in its powder form for 4 hours. I choose autoclave because I think it would be easier to achieve temperature stability, especially for long duration of steaming. My goal is to find out whether steaming the plant in various hours on high temperature (100 and 120 deg) would increase the secondary metabolites content of the plant.

Therefore I'm looking for suggestions of the best container for my sample. Should I put the powder in pyrex erlenmeyer flask and close the top with aluminium foil? Or should I put the powder in autoclavable plastic and tie it tight so no air/water could get inside?

If I sealed the container, would my plant powder sample still receive the effect of steaming? Would it be different if I open the container? Water would probably get inside, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

I look forward to your suggestions. Thank you.