Harvesting and Processing of Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. It has the function of clearing heat and detoxification, dispelling wind and detumescence. It mainly treats wind-hot cold, sore throat, pneumonia, dysentery, pain, sore ulcer, erysipelas, cellulitis and other diseases. The harvest and processing technology of honeysuckle has a great influence on the yield and quality of honeysuckle. The harvesting and processing technology of honeysuckle is introduced as follows:

During the flowering period, honeysuckle usually blossoms in the third year after planting. The blooming time of honeysuckle is relatively concentrated, and the flowering period is about 15 days. Generally, the first stubble flowers are picked in mid-late May, and they are picked one after another every other month, and four stubble flowers can be picked in a year.

The harvest standard is that when the bud changes from green to white, the upper part is enlarged and the lower part is blue, the honeysuckle picked is called "Erbai flower"; when the bud is completely white but has not yet opened, the honeysuckle picked is called "big white flower". Early harvest time will lead to poor quality and low yield; if the harvest time is too late, the flower buds will fully open, and its medicinal value will be reduced.

Within one day of harvest, the buds picked from early morning to 9 am when the dew is not dry are of the best quality, when picking will not damage immature buds and have strong aroma and good color.

Postharvest processing of honeysuckle should be processed in time after picking, dried or preserved after drying. The way to dry is to spread the honeysuckle thinly in bamboo mats and woodware in time, spread it out before 10:00 in the morning, place it in a cool place when the light is strong at noon, and dry again in the afternoon when the light is not strong. Use bamboo fence or wear gloves to turn over when drying, do not touch it directly with your hands to prevent honeysuckle from blackening.

The method of drying is to put honeysuckle on the mat, put 2-3 stoves in the room, and set up exhaust windows or vents. The initial drying temperature should not be too high, controlled at about 30 ℃. After baking for 2 hours, the indoor temperature can be raised to about 40 ℃, when the flowers gradually discharge water vapor. After 5 ~ 10 hours, raise the room temperature to 45 ℃ ~ 50 ℃ and bake for another 10 hours, so that most of the moisture can be discharged. Finally, the room temperature was raised to 55 ℃ ~ 60 ℃ to dry the flowers quickly. Dried flowers are of better quality than dried ones. However, it should be noted that the flowers can not be turned or stopped in the middle of the drying, otherwise the flowers will deteriorate.

After drying (drying), honeysuckle is packed in wooden cases or cartons, covered with moisture-proof paper and stored in a cool and dry place.