Drying is not only a method of preservation: in processing workshops it becomes a creative and productive tool, which makes it possible to make minestrone soups, powders, chips and other ready-made products for sale or to be incorporated into artisanal preparations.
This process allows you to maintain freshness, colour and nutrients of products, reduce waste and offer natural solutions without preservatives or chemical additives.
With drying you can enhance the raw materials in your workshop: fruit, vegetables and natural flavourings become stable and versatile ingredients, ready to be made into soups, aromatic powders, chips or mixes for professional and retail kitchens.
The artisan approach is combined with professional technology, resulting in uniform, controlled, high quality products.
Professional drying requires attention to volumes, product types and drying parameters, but is also suitable for micro-productions.
It starts by selecting raw materials and defining the necessary quantities; it experiments with small production runs to test times and temperatures; and finally, it plans the process according to market and laboratory requirements.
Fernanda Zendron Farm, Albiano (TN)
«Most of the products on the market are full of preservatives and colourings... Guided tastings with tourists made us realise that the freshness of the dried product was very much appreciated. If before we were the ones offering the product, now they call us to have it and be able to sell it.»
- Fernanda Zendron
Mainly vegetables from my garden, especially soups and powders, and then fruit. For apples and other fruits I buy part of the produce from a friend.
Minestrone, powders, fruit chips.
The idea came from my family: my father liked some freeze-dried soups on the market, but they contained preservatives and colourings. So I started preparing bags for him with vegetables from our garden, and the response was enthusiastic.
We then started to let friends and farmhouse managers taste our products. The tourist presence in the Cembra Valley and on the Piné Plateau made it possible to present our products directly in some accommodation facilities. With the guided tastings, we realised that there was real interest and the possibility of sales. At this point, my sister-in-law gave us a Biosec Pro, making drying on a larger scale easier and more professional.
We have always presented products personally, initially with handmade labels, then by investing in logos, packaging and design. Now our products also reach physical shops. Some collaborations with local farms allow us to dry fruit for them and supply powders for the kitchen: a real team effort that works and enhances the territory.
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Drying means dehydrate, that is, subtracting from a food its share of water, which is often the bulk of its weight.
In this way, the raw material changes its appearance slightly, but retains - or rather concentrates - its organoleptic and nutritional properties.
Not only that: removing water decomposition and oxidation processes are stopped or drastically slowed down, and the shelf life of the product is greatly extended. from perishable to durable. This greatly simplifies logistics management, storage and sales.
Drying therefore allows preserve food better and longer, preserving its flavour and nutritional qualities.
You can drying and transform:
- fruit
- small fruits
- oily fruit
- aromatic herbs
- medicinal herbs
- flowers
- spices
- saffron
- weeds
- fungi
- grain
- noodles
- meat
- fish
You can obtain and commercialise:
- fruit and vegetable chips and snacks
- flavoured powders and salts, flavourings
- spices, herbs and edible flowers
- crispy sheets (leather) of fruit or vegetables
- dehydrated vegetables and soups
- ready meals and preparations for cooking
- energy bars
- fresh pasta
- pet food
- infusions
Yes, in order to market, sell or administer processed products, it is necessary to operate in a laboratory that is recognised by the health authorities (HACCP), even if it is small or located within the company.
Absolutely. Many facilities start with small quantities to test recipes, snacks or flavour powders before expanding production.
Yes. Drying makes it possible to reduce waste, valorise surpluses and offer natural products with low costs and a concrete economic return.
If you have a farm, drying is an optimal and efficient way to enhance the 100% of your production. You can process products grown by yourself or by third companies with whom you can create network synergies.
You get several benefits, all related:
- zero waste and convert surpluses into a long-term resource
- give a destination to aesthetically imperfect or damaged products by hailstorms or (increasingly frequent) frost, which you would not be able to sell otherwise
- diversify your business and minimise business risk
- increase the catalogue of your offer and distinguish yourself by competitors
- you can sell is directly to the final purchaser, in person and online; but also to retailers such as e-commerce, shops, farms and restaurants.
In general, the advantages of dried products are many.
If you make or trade dried products:
- obtain or resell food with a high shelf life (shelf life)
- greatly simplify the logistical management of your offer, from warehouse to sale
- create a line of healthy products without added sugar or preservatives, of course rich in fibre and nutrients
- conquer a steadily growing slice of the market, which demands healthy, artisanal and ready-to-eat products
