The following is our evaluation of three common products on the market. Comparing with technology, appearance, section, texture, and its condition in water, the total five projects of goji berry, we made an evaluation on freeze-dried, oven-dried, and air-dried goji berry to make sure that you won’t be taken in while choosing.
Comparison: a random choice of freeze-dried, oven-dried, and air-dried goji berries.
1.Production process
(From left to right are freeze-dried, oven-dried, and air-dried goji berries.)
Freeze-dried goji berry: means goji berry will be frozen solid by using Vacuum Freeze Drying technology which can make fruits dewater and desiccate by sublimation of ice under the condition of low temperature and pressure.
Oven-dried goji berry: means people accelerate the evaporation of water to achieve the purpose of drying by increasing the temperature of drying room artificially.
Air-dried goji berry: means people remove fruit wax on the surface with lye, then evaporate water from fresh fruit by turning them in the environment with full of sunshine and wind.
Analysis and conclusion: as for freeze-dried goji berry, under vacuum condition, water sublimate from its solid, the material itself is left in the frozen ice shelf, so the dried volume won’t be changed and goji berry will become loose, porous with good rehydration performance. Retaining the color, aroma, taste, shape and nutrition of the original food is the strongest feature on freeze-drying technology. Therefore, freeze-drying food is also known as space food, and nowadays, it is a natural, green, safe and convenient food.
For Air-dried goji berry, goji berry will be destroyed what will cause the loss of nutrient and darkening. Some unscrupulous factories fumigate with sulfur or dye the fruit to make it look delicious, so that the goji berry was changed from tonic to poison.
The technology of oven-dried goji berry is between the freeze-dried and air-dried. We will continue to evaluate other projects to let you know which one suits you most.
2. Appearance and shape
Freeze-dried goji berry: bright-colored, particles plump, dry with its original shape.
Oven-dried goji berry: dark red, slightly shiny, a little plump with flesh texture and irregular shape, not so dry on surface.
Air-dried goji berry: dark red, mat, shriveled, hard, and dry with some foreign matters.
Analysis and conclusion: due to the different production process, dry goji berry shows great difference on its appearance. Comparing with oven-dried and air-dried, freeze-dried goji berry is bright and full; oven-dried goji berry looks more like abundant than the air-dried goji berry, because the opening making environment may bring some sands on the surface, fruits are easy to be influenced in this way.
3. Smell after cutting
Freeze-dried goji berry: can be cut easily, the internal pulp and fruit seeds are dry and dispersed gives fruity scent.
Oven-dried goji berry: pulp tissues are clearly visible, soft to touch, dry, without significant smell after cutting.
Air-dried goji berry: dry inside, a little flesh, loose structure, without significant smell.
Analysis and conclusion: we can easily find that freeze-dried goji berry is pretty dry after cutting, its peel and pulp are easy to break; during oven-drying, goji berry is affected by heat and become soft, which make it adherent, while compared with the other two kinds of samples, air-dried goji berry is dryer, harder, with more water and less flesh.
