Strawberry Drying Room

1. Client Needs

Ms. Li, the owner of a family farm in Taizhou, Zhejiang, manages an 8-mu (approx. 1.3-acre) strawberry picking orchard. During the annual peak season, she faces significant losses as large quantities of fresh fruit go to waste due to poor appearance or sluggish sales. Traditional sun-drying methods are heavily constrained by weather conditions, and the resulting dried strawberries often suffer from dull coloration and an overly acidic taste, making it difficult to gain market acceptance. Conversely, large-scale industrial drying equipment requires excessive capital investment and occupies too much space, rendering it unsuitable for use on a family farm. The challenge of how to process fresh fruit into high-quality dried fruit—at a low cost and with high efficiency—became a pressing problem she urgently needed to resolve.

2. Jinlu Machinery Strawberry Drying Room

Ms. Li acquired a household-scale, electrically heated drying room from Jinlu Machinery. This unit features a compact, integrated cabinet structure with a footprint of just 2–3 square meters. Its intelligent temperature control system operates with precision within the 50–65°C range, while its hot-air circulation technology reduces drying time from the 2–3 days required by traditional sun-drying to a mere 10–12 hours. Furthermore, its power consumption is only one-third that of traditional electric heaters. Since adopting the unit, Ms. Li’s dried strawberries have boasted a vibrant, rosy hue and retained over 90% of their nutritional content. The product’s selling price has surged from 20 yuan per *jin* (approx. 0.5 catties) for fresh fruit to over 100 yuan per *jin* for the dried product—a 3-to-4-fold increase in added value—allowing her to recoup the entire cost of the equipment in less than six months.

3. Client Feedback and Product Value

Ms. Li remarked: “It is incredibly simple to operate—even the elderly and children can use it. The dried strawberries come out with a bright red color and a rich, intense fruity aroma. Most importantly, it’s energy-efficient; the electricity cost for a single batch is less than 20 yuan.” This household-scale drying room not only resolved the issue of strawberry spoilage but also offers multi-purpose functionality, making it suitable for processing a wide variety of agricultural products—including apples, mangoes, shiitake mushrooms, and medicinal herbs. It provides family farms and small-scale entrepreneurs with an efficient, energy-saving, and convenient solution for adding value to their produce.