Archive
Drying & Dehydration
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Fruit Powders: Spray, Drum and Freeze Drying Compared
Three drying routes produce three products that share a name and almost nothing else. This guide compares spray, drum and freeze drying…
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How do I compare fruit powder prices between suppliers?
On cost per kilogram of fruit solids, not on kilogram price. Carrier content varies enough to make the headline figure meaningless.
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Why do fruit powders cake in storage?
Because fruit sugars are hygroscopic, they take up water from warehouse air and the particle surfaces fuse. Caking is not reversible by…
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Dried vs Freeze-Dried Herbs: Which One Is Worth the Premium?
Freeze-dried herbs hold colour and volatile oil far better than air-dried ones and cost several times as much. This page sets out…
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Herb Drying and Essential Oil Retention: What the Dryer Costs You
Drying a culinary herb removes water and, unavoidably, some of the volatile oil that the buyer is actually paying for. This guide…
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Mushroom Grading and Moisture Control: Reading a Dried and Frozen Specification
Mushroom grades are trade conventions, not standards, and the same letter means different things to different suppliers. This guide sets out what…
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Moisture, Water Activity and Shelf Life: Three Numbers That Are Not the Same Thing
Two products with identical moisture can have completely different stability, because what governs microbial growth is available water rather than total water.…
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How much frozen fruit does it take to make one kilogram of freeze dried fruit?
Roughly eight to twelve kilograms of fresh or frozen berries per kilogram of freeze dried product, depending on the water content of…
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Frozen vs Freeze Dried Berries: Cost, Shelf Life and What Each Format Is Actually For
Frozen berries hold their water and depend on an unbroken cold chain; freeze dried berries hold almost none and depend on packaging.…
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Are sulphites allowed in organic dried fruit?
The permitted uses of sulphur dioxide and sulphites in organic production are narrower than in conventional production. Organic processing may only use…