紅棗的介紹
作為知名的傳統健康食品，紅棗富含多種營養成分。大部分都被乾燥成品，直接作為去污染的水果供消費者食用。此外，紅棗的產區相對集中，大部分新鮮紅棗在秋季幾乎同時收穫，供應整個市場。
如何乾燥紅棗？
紅棗加工的核心是乾燥。乾燥過程由水分蒸發與糖分轉換組成，前提是在盡量保持紅棗原有品質的情況下進行。為了保存、運輸、銷售，新鮮紅棗需要清洗、烘乾、冷卻、軟化、滅菌、包裝。
Red dates abound in sugars. Among them, the polysaccharide is not sweet and only becomes sweet after inverted into simple sugars by the function of the biological enzymes. It is the reason why cured jujube is sweet. If we want to invert sugars fully, we need to strengthen the activity of the biological enzymes. After a long time of practice in our 烘箱, we have found the most suitable temperature for completely sugar conversion is about 60°C.
紅棗乾燥過程
在紅棗乾燥過程中，有許多細節需要清楚。一般而言，乾燥過程分為四個步驟：預熱、蒸發、乾燥、冷卻。以下是乾燥過程中的一些注意事項與流程介紹。
Preheating: If we directly put red dates in the environment where the temperature is suitable for sugar conversion, the extreme temperature difference will make red dates set off the protective reaction. The cell orifice in the skin will shrink and the crust will become hard to prevent water from evaporating. Therefore, sufficient preheating is required in the early drying to prepare for the evaporation. First, the red dates need to be dried at 35°C for 6-10 hours. When the temperature of red dates reaches 45°C, your finger will feel hot when touching it. After drying them for 7-8 hours, use your finger to press the red date and wrinkles will appear on the surface. When the temperature is at 45°C-48°C, there will be some small water drops on their skin.
Evaporation: Raise the temperature to 65°C (Note: the temperature shall not be higher than 70°C) within 8-12 hours to evaporate most of the free water. Keep the indoor temperature stable for constant evaporation. The drying process goes well when the wrinkles appear on the surface.
Drying up: When the temperature in the red date is uniform, this step will end within 6 hours. In this phase, the moisture content of red dates is not high, and thus more attention shall be paid to temperature control. It is best to keep the temperature at 50°C. At this moment, relative humanity has been declined. As the water in the red dates is gradually balanced, the drying process is completed. Note that the dried red dates shall be taken out in time.
Cooling: Keep good ventilation and heat dissipation for dried red dates. Pile them up until being cooled. If the dried red dates are just taken out from the cabinet, and directly piled up in the warehouse, their sugars will ferment and go bad, and the pectose will be broken down into pectin and pectic acid due to high heat. Therefore, it is necessary to wait for the completely cold zone before piling up.
乾燥紅棗的好處
- 美味風味食品
- 富含各種維生素
- 含有鈣、磷、鐵等營養素，有助於促進骨骼成長
- 滋補脾胃、養氣血
