On the processing technology of honeysuckle

There are two kinds of processing: drying and drying.

(1) drying in the sun

Before 1970, Shandong producing areas mostly chose leeward and Xiangyang. The flat ground or slate with long sunshine is sprinkled with a thin layer of flowers in the morning and harvested on the same day. This method saves labor and time, but the quality will be affected on windy and rainy days. Baskets have been used more often since 1970. A basket frame about 1.7 meters long, 0.7 meters wide and 5-7 centimeters high is made of wooden sticks, with sorghum straw or mat (sorghum straw is not peeled, mat is to be reused to facilitate water absorption) as the bottom. 2.5-3 kg per basket of fresh flowers. Place the basket north and south in a ventilated and sunny place and pad it high in the north. After the sun is 80% dry, you can pour it into the mat and turn it over. At night or in case of rain, you can put the basket in the courtyard, put two crossbars between the basket and cover the mat (or rain gear). When the bud reaches 80% dry, it must not be turned over, otherwise it will turn black and the quality will decline.

(2) drying

It was adopted after 1975. Mainly in the drying room. The main operating procedures are:

Pre-drying (room temperature 30 ℃) one flower packing (35 ℃, upper and lower flower baskets exchanged every 2-3 hours) → heating and ventilation (40 ℃ ventilation, 5-10 hours, temperature 45-50 ℃. Ventilation every 5 minutes, 10 hours later, when the temperature rises to 55 ℃, that is, rapid drying, a total of about 18 hours) → out of the Kang (1 hour before leaving the Kang, and ventilation, when the temperature is below 10 ℃, honeysuckle is 80% dry, the end of the flower basket will be dried).

When drying, the drying room is generally two-room type, 6 meters long and 5 meters wide. Two stoves are repaired at one end of the house, the Longkang-style fire path is repaired in the room, and the chimney and skylight are left on the roof, 0.3 meters above the ground. There is a pair of vents opposite to each other on the front and rear walls of each room. There is a steel bar or wood baking rack 20 centimeters away from the wall on both sides of the room. There is a 1.4 meter passage between the shelves, which is 5.6 meters long, 1.6 centimeters wide and 2.6 meters high. The frame is divided into 10 layers and the distance between layers is 20 centimeters. The bottom layer is 40 centimeters away from the fire, with 8 honeysuckle baskets on each floor and 10 centimeters apart, with a total of 160 flower baskets on the top. Pre-bake before the flower, remove the indoor moisture and increase the temperature, when the room temperature rises to 35 ℃, the flowers can be installed, the thickness of the flowers is kept at 3-4 cm, put the basket neatly on the drying rack, close the doors and windows, plug the vents, bake, and change the position of the upper and lower baskets every 2-3 hours. After installing the honeysuckle, the fire should be increased immediately. When the room temperature is raised to about 40 ℃, the flowers begin to drain, which can open the skylight and discharge water vapor. Within 5-10 hours, the room temperature should be kept at 45-50 ℃, open the stomata, so that water vapor can be discharged quickly. If the temperature is not enough, some or all of the stomata can be blocked and ventilated when the indoor moisture is high, only about 5 minutes at a time. After 10 hours, most of the water vapor of the flowers was discharged, and the room temperature reached 55 ℃. The honeysuckle dried quickly and lasted for 18 hours. About an hour before leaving the Kang, the fire is gradually reduced, and it has been ventilated all the time, and the temperature drops below 40 ℃. When you hold the top hand and make a sound, you can end the flower basket out. No matter drying or drying, it should be baked again after 2 days to make it dry thoroughly.

At present, in Shandong producing areas, flower farmers mainly use basket drying method, and the drying room has long been closed or changed to other uses. Sulfur fumigation is commonly used in the processing plants of pharmaceutical companies, which should be prohibited now.

(3) processing research

Lulingen et al compared the effects of different processing methods on the quality of Flos Lonicerae, taking the volatile oil and chlorogenic acid of Flos Lonicerae as indexes. The contents of total volatile oil and chlorogenic acid in different processed products (steaming, fumigation, stir-frying, sun-drying) of Lonicera japonica were determined, and the results showed that the content of smoked product was the highest. Guo Hongbin and others compared the four different processing methods of honeysuckle, namely, sun drying, shade drying, steaming and sulfur fumigation. The results showed that the chlorogenic acid content of shade drying method was the highest, which was significantly different from that of the other three methods, and the chlorogenic acid content of sun drying method was the lowest. The results of Peng Guangfang et al showed that the order of chlorogenic acid content of honeysuckle in different processing methods was sulfur smoke drying bucket drying → drying → shade drying. It is considered that the quality of honeysuckle processed by sulfur fumigation drying method is the best and the shade drying method is the worst. Through the study on the quality of Lonicera macranthoides, Wu Ruying found that the quality of steamed products was the best and that of raw products was the worst. After determining the chlorogenic acid content of different processed varieties, Feng Health et al considered that nitrogen fumigation of honeysuckle can replace air drying or drying to improve the appearance quality of honeysuckle. Zhu Xiaoguang and others introduced the sulfur fumigation method of honeysuckle and thought that the appearance and color of honeysuckle could meet the requirements when processed by this method. After fumigation, it can be kept for 4-5 days (overcast and rainy season) without mildew.