Drying Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle is a perennial and semi-evergreen woody vine of Caprifoliaceae. Its Chinese name, Jin Yin Hua, is from the Compendium of Materia Medica. It has been known as a good medicine which clears heat and removes toxic since ancient times. Its sweet and cold nature helps clear heat without hurting human stomach. It smells fragrant and is good for removing diseases. The honeysuckle dissipates wind heat and purifies the blood. Accordingly it is very effective in treating fever, exanthesis, macular eruption, heat carbuncle, sore throat.

The traditional method is to dry honeysuckle in a mud curing barn. This method is hard to control and inefficient, producing dried honeysuckle with poor quality. It neither keeps up with development of scale, modernization and seasonal changes of honeysuckle industry, nor goes well with the high-quality and rapid modern life. In the wake of the development of mechanization, automation, and of scientific research information technology, automatic and smart high-temperature heat-pump drying equipment has advanced for recent years. For example, air source heat-pump dryers, with their mechanical and fully automatic advantages, satisfy demands of modern social development. They change the outmoded drying procedures like manually wood and coal adding, turning over, and temperature and humanity measuring. Based on the prior art on the market, our product is the honeysuckle dryer with the highest price performance ratio on the current market, with redesigned and upgraded technology combining theory with practice.

Temperature curve of drying honeysuckle

Phase 1 First, preheat the drying cabinet to 35–40°C, put fresh honeysuckle in the cabinet and then hold the temperature at 40°C for 4–6 hours while removal of moisture is enhanced.

Phase 2 Raise the temperature in the cabinet from 41 to 48°C gradually within 5-7 hours. Make it sure that the temperature is no higher than 50°C while removal of moisture is enhanced at the same speed. After 9–13 hours of low and medium-intensive drying and strong removal of moisture, honeysucklebecomes dried half.

Phase 3 Remain 50–54°C in the cabinet for 2–4 hours while slowing down the removal of moisture to help raise the temperature. After Phase III, 80% of water in honeysuckle is removed.

Phase 4 The temperature shall be 55–65°C in the drying cabinet, and no higher than 70°C for 2–4 hours, while removal of moisture shall be slowed down properly. With the procedure, halt the dryer according to the color of honeysuckle.