Black Fungus Drying

The dried black fungus we buy in daily life is typically jet black and perfectly shaped. This is due to the scientific drying process behind it. Traditional methods of drying black fungus are highly susceptible to weather conditions and are prone to contamination and deterioration. Modern drying equipment, however, can precisely control temperature and humidity to ensure product quality. Henan Jinlu Machinery’s electrically heated drying room is a leader in this field, providing a technologically advanced, cost-effective solution to address the pain points of the black fungus processing industry.

01 Project Background and Challenges

Black fungus, a nutritious edible fungus, is a traditional health food and export commodity in my country. It is named black fungus because it grows on rotten wood and resembles a human ear.

Black fungus processing is primarily divided into fresh and dried forms. Dried black fungus is the mainstream method due to its ease of preservation. The essence of the drying process is to manually control conditions to evaporate the water in the fungus to a standard moisture content, thereby inhibiting biochemical reactions and mold growth.

Traditional methods for drying black fungus include sun drying, shade drying, air drying, and kang drying. These methods are severely limited by climatic conditions. They are prone to mold and deterioration in rainy weather and are easily contaminated by dust, flies, and rodents, resulting in significant nutritional loss.

02 Solution and Equipment Features

The electric heating drying room launched by Henan Jinlu Machinery Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a specialized device developed to address the pain points of the wood ear mushroom processing industry. This box-type drying system consists of a drying room and a heat source, offering a simple structure and easy operation.

The electric heating drying room comprises a heat pump unit, an insulated drying room, a heat exchanger, a circulating fan, a dehumidification system, a dehumidification fan, and a control and detection system. It operates by utilizing the reverse Carnot principle, drawing heat from the surrounding environment and transferring it to the heated object. This equipment enables low-temperature closed-circulation drying. The hot dry air temperature in the drying room is precisely controlled between 20 and 80°C via a control device. Temperature differences between different parts of the drying room are minimal, preventing localized overheating from affecting drying quality.

The Jinlu electric heating drying room offers several advantages: easy installation, adaptable to both indoor and outdoor environments; and low energy consumption, consuming only a small amount of electricity to absorb a significant amount of heat from the air, consuming only 1/3-1/4 the energy of a heater.

03 Wood Ear Mushroom Drying Process

Based on the characteristics of wood ear mushrooms, Jinlu Machinery has developed a scientific drying process curve for its customers. First, freshly picked wood ear mushrooms are washed with clean water and placed on trays.

The electric heating drying room is then preheated for two hours at a temperature of approximately 45°C-55°C. The trayed wood ear mushrooms are then evenly arranged on the drying room racks.

The drying process requires precise temperature control: Initially, the temperature is set at 35-40°C to allow moisture on the surface of the mushrooms to evaporate, at which point the exhaust function is activated. The temperature is then gradually lowered to approximately 26°C for four hours.

Starting at 26°C, increase the temperature by 3-4°C per hour, adjusting the exhaust function to maintain a relative humidity of around 10% for 5-8 hours. Slowly raise the temperature to 50°C and maintain it constant to ensure uniform drying of the upper and lower layers of fungus.

After maintaining this constant temperature for 5-8 hours, raise the temperature to 55-60°C for overall drying. When the fungus is 80% dried, remove it from the drying sieve and spread it out to air for 2 hours before continuing to dry until all the fungus is dried.

04 Application Results and Customer Value

Jinlu’s electric heating drying room demonstrates significant advantages in black fungus processing. Its energy-saving benefits are significant, reducing energy consumption by over 40% compared to conventional dryers.

Another major advantage is its enclosed drying environment, enabling the closed circulation of inert drying media for drying flammable and explosive products, as well as products that are prone to oxidation and deterioration. This means that the fungus is protected from oxygen during the drying process, preserving its active ingredients.

It also offers excellent environmental performance, emitting no dust or odor during drying and allowing the product’s aroma to be recovered. This meets the environmental protection requirements of modern food processing.

05 Industry Application Prospects

Jinlu’s electric heating drying room is not only suitable for drying black fungus, but can also be widely used in the drying and processing of a variety of agricultural and sideline products. This includes the dehydration of flakes, strips, blocks, and granules, including Chinese herbal medicine slices, food, agricultural and sideline products, aquatic products, feed, and chemical raw materials.

For Chinese herbal medicine processing, it is suitable for honeysuckle, truncatum, scutellaria, salvia miltiorrhiza, burdock, and ginseng; for fruit processing, it can be used for drying almonds, dates, peanuts, longan, and walnuts; and for vegetable processing, it is suitable for drying asparagus, beans, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, black fungus, and white fungus.

This wide range of applicability allows a single unit to be used for drying a variety of products, significantly improving equipment utilization and return on investment. It is undoubtedly an ideal choice for companies engaged in the processing of a variety of agricultural and sideline products.