Garlic dryer is a hot air circulation machine specially designed for dehydrating and drying garlic slices. It is widely used in food processing, seasoning production, and deep processing of agricultural products.
Garlic belongs to the lily family and the Allium genus. Its young shoots, flower stalks, and bulbs are all edible. Garlic is rich in alliin, which, under the action of alliinase, turns into a volatile sulfur compound called allicin. Allicin has a strong pungent flavor, stimulates appetite, and has antibacterial properties. Using a dryer to process garlic into dried products not only preserves its original flavor and nutrients, but also softens its strong aroma before eating and greatly extends its storage life.
Why Dry Garlic?
Fresh garlic contains over 65% water, making it easy for mold and bacteria to grow in humid conditions, which can lead to rot and spoilage. This makes it unsuitable for long-term storage and long-distance transportation.
After drying, garlic has a clean, white, and uniform appearance, making it more attractive for sale. Its reduced weight also makes it easier to package, handle, and export, greatly improving sales and distribution efficiency.
Gentle low-temperature drying not only preserves active compounds like allicin but also enhances garlic’s pungent aroma, making it more appealing to the market.
Food processing companies, pharmaceutical factories, and seasoning producers often require standardized garlic raw materials — dried garlic is the ideal intermediate form.
Fresh garlic is bulky, heavy, and easily damaged, resulting in high storage and transport costs. Drying significantly reduces its size and weight, cutting transportation expenses.
Dried garlic cloves can also be further processed into garlic slices, garlic powder, and seasoning blends, greatly increasing the product’s added value.
Garlic Drying Process
Pre-Treatment
- Fresh garlic should be sorted, peeled, and sliced (ideal thickness: 2–3 mm). Rinse the slices in clean water to remove sticky mucus, then drain off surface moisture.
Loading
- Spread the prepared garlic slices evenly in a single layer on the drying trays. The layer should not exceed 5 cm in thickness to ensure good airflow.
Preheating
- After starting the dryer, preheat at a low temperature of 40 °C for 20–30 minutes. This prevents the surface of the garlic slices from forming a film too quickly, which would hinder moisture evaporation.
Main Drying Stage
- Heating phase: Gradually raise the temperature to 55 °C and maintain for 2–3 hours. This removes about 60%–70% of the moisture.
- Constant temperature phase: Keep the temperature at 55 °C for about 4 hours, turning the garlic slices once every hour.
Cooling stage
- Turn off the heating system and use residual heat and ventilation to continue dehydrating for 1 hour. The final moisture content should be ≤ 6%.
Key Factors in Garlic Slice Drying
- Garlic variety selection: Choose garlic with moderate moisture content, strong pungent flavor, and uniform cloves.
- Slice thickness control: The optimal thickness is 1.5–3 mm.
- Material layer thickness: Keep each tray’s layer ≤ 5 mm to avoid overlapping and blocking airflow.
- Temperature control: Usually set between 50–60 °C, following the Agricultural Product Drying Technical Standard.
- Humidity control: Start with 30%–40% relative humidity and gradually reduce to below 10% to prevent slices from sticking or cracking.
- Airflow speed: Recommended 0.5–1.2 m/s to ensure hot air penetrates evenly through the garlic layer.
- Regular turning: Turn the slices once per hour during the heating phase.
Advantages of Shuliy Garlic Drying Machine
- High thermal efficiency & energy saving – Most hot air stays inside the chamber, with a maximum heat efficiency of up to 50%.
- Even drying effect – Equipped with a forced ventilation box and adjustable air distribution plates.
- Accurate temperature & humidity control – Precision up to ±2 °C.
- Smart PLC control – Automatic temperature regulation, easy installation, and convenient maintenance.
- Eco-friendly – No dust or odor emissions to the environment during the drying process.
- Low noise & stable performance.
- Wide material applicability – Suitable for various vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat, and more.
- Customization available – Options for machine material, capacity, voltage, spare parts, and more
Related Machine Recommendations
Garlic drying can be done using a stainless steel dryer or a heat pump dryer.
If you require higher-quality garlic slices and have a larger budget, you can choose a stainless steel dryer or a microwave dryer. You are welcome to learn more information.