A review of drying methods for improving the quality of dried herbs

Abstract

A large number of herb-drying studies have been conducted in recent decades and several herb-drying techniques have been introduced. However, the quality of commercial dried herbs is still lower than that of fresh herbs. In this paper, studies regarding the effect of drying techniques and pre-drying treatments on the aroma and color of dried herbs are reviewed with the aim of providing an overview of different technological strategies developed for improving the quality of aromatic herbs for their industrial drying.

Keywords:

• Herbs
• drying
• pretreatment
• aroma
• essential oil
• color

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the Royal Thai Government, Ministry of Science and Technology of Thailand.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

G. Thamkaew wrote the manuscript, created figures and tables. I. Sjöholm and F. Gómez Galindo supervised and revised the manuscript.