11 Oct 2025
How to Dry Star Anise?
1. Background Star anise, the mature fruit of a plant in the Magnoliaceae family, is an indispensable spice in Chinese cuisine. It contains 5%-8% aromatic oil, approximately 22% fatty oil, as well as proteins and resins, and is widely used in cooking and food processing. Star anise dried fruit must be harvested after late August and completed by mid- to early-October to ensure quality. Generally, 3-4 jin (100 grams) of fresh fruit can be processed into 1 jin (100 grams) of dried fruit. There are two main traditional methods for drying star anise: direct sun drying, where fresh star anise fruit is spread directly on a drying yard and dried in sunlight for four days. The other method, post-wilt sun drying, involves placing the fresh fruit in 90-100°C water, stirring for four to six minutes, then removing it and drying it again. These traditional methods are highly dependent on weather conditions, require extensive manual turning, and occupy a large drying area. During rainy weather, growers resort to traditional drying methods: indoor ovens, ignited with charcoal, and baked at around 50°C, drying a batch in about two days. This method makes precise temperature control difficult, leading to uneven quality of star...
Learn More > 
