Herbal tea is the general name of Chinese herbal medicine plant beverage, and it is also a kind of beverage that is often drunk in summer. The name is related to its function. Although it is called herbal tea, there is actually no tea in the drink. Herbal tea is mainly prepared from Abrus cantoniensis, Prunella vulgaris, Lonicera japonica and Siraitia grosvenorii [8]. The so-called "cool" refers to boiling Chinese herbal medicines with cold nature and capable of dispelling internal heat in human body, so as to relieve summer heat or treat diseases such as sore throat caused by dry heat in winter [9].
Process editing
Production technology of traditional herbal tea
The production process of traditional herbal tea generally includes seven basic steps: cutting, grinding, weighing, soaking, boiling, adding water, frying and storing.
1. Cutting and grinding: The main purpose of cutting and grinding medicinal materials is to divide the original larger medicinal materials into small pieces, so as to increase the contact surface with water and reduce the time required for decocting; Secondly, the finely chopped medicinal materials are small in volume, and the weighing is convenient and accurate.
2. Weighing: In order to ensure that the dosage of medicinal materials meets the requirements of its formula, it is generally necessary to weigh the medicinal materials strictly before soaking. Too many medicinal materials will make herbal tea have too strong efficacy, which will easily have adverse effects on human body. Too little will reduce the efficacy and fail to achieve normal health care.
3. Soaking: After soaking, the effective components of the medicinal materials are dissolved by water, thus ensuring the efficacy. Generally, herbal tea with flowers, leaves and grass should be soaked for about 20 minutes, and herbal tea with roots, seeds and fruits should be soaked for 1 hour. Higher temperature in summer can shorten the soaking time; The medicine is dry and hard in winter, and the soaking time can be slightly longer.
4. Potting: Because the medicinal materials will produce complex chemical reactions during boiling, ceramics are the best choice for boiling herbal tea. If metal utensils are used, the metal elements will easily react with the traditional Chinese medicine components in the medicinal materials during the boiling process, which will reduce the efficacy of herbal tea. In addition, the ceramic has mild heat transfer performance and uniform heating, which is beneficial to the boiling of herbal tea.
5. Add water: In ancient times, people paid more attention to the water used for boiling. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, there are 43 kinds of water, including Tianshui and groundwater. In fact, for modern people, all drinkable pure water without impurities can be used to cook herbal tea. As for the amount of water, it is usually appropriate to put the medicine evenly into the pot and then soak it in water for more than 2~3 cm (about 1 knuckle).
6. Boiling: Generally, it is advisable to boil herbal tea in Wu Hou, that is, boil it with strong fire first, and then keep it slightly boiling with slow fire to avoid overflowing or frying. In addition, we should pay special attention to the frequent "uncovering" and stirring of herbal tea, because herbal tea is fragrant and pungent. If the cover is uncovered repeatedly, the volatile components in the medicine will rise and disperse, thus reducing the efficacy of herbal tea.
7. Storage: Generally, the single-store storage mode mostly adopts thermos bottles to ensure that the taste of herbal tea will not be lost and the quality will not deteriorate in a short time; Chain stores or franchisees use fixed plastic containers to transport them from the place of production to stores, and then put them in the refrigerator for preservation. At the time of sale, they can drink cold drinks or heat them according to customers' needs [10].
Modern Technological Process of Tetra Pak Packaging Guangdong Herbal Tea
Guangdong herbal tea was washed with water, boiled in water, filtered, filtered, vacuum compressed, wine precipitated, wine recovered, vacuum concentrated, thick paste+water+sucrose, herbal tea liquid, filtered, instantly sterilized at pressure 1 kg/cm2 and temperature 120 degrees Celsius, cooled, boxed, sealed, boxed and put into storage [65438
Heritage conservation editor
Inherited value
Herbal tea culture has a long history, wide popularity, recognized efficacy, strict inheritance and late effect, making it a "dark horse" of the world's beverages. The output of herbal tea exceeds 2 million tons (including Hong Kong and Macao), and the sales scope covers the whole country and nearly 20 countries including the United States, Canada, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. As an integral part of China food culture, it is of great practical significance to protect and develop herbal tea culture.