JPH0840801A - Production of dried flower - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a dried flower sufficiently retaining its original shape and color, by preventing a natural flower from whitening. CONSTITUTION:This dried flower is characteristically obtained by embedding a natural flower in a granular material to preliminarily dry the natural flower followed by either lyophilization or substitution dehydrating drying of the resultant natural flower.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing dried flowers, which are used for specimens by drying the fresh flowers while keeping their original shape and primary color without whitening.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for producing a dried flower in which the original shape and the original color of fresh flowers are retained and dried, there are a method of embedding in a desiccant, a method of displacing and dehydrating with an organic solvent and a method of freeze-drying. Of these, the method of embedding in a desiccant has the advantage that the color of each part of the fresh flower, for example, the part that is different systematically such as the fresh flower and the foliage remains relatively evenly, but for fresh flowers that easily turn black. It has the disadvantages that it cannot be used and that thick parts such as stems become thin and thin.

The method of substitution dehydration with an organic solvent and drying is
The flower color is bright and the thick part does not lose weight, but the stems and leaves have the drawback of being easily whitened. However,
The flower part will also be whitened by Western orchids. The freeze-drying method is relatively faithful to the original shape and primary color, except for the petal meat that tends to deflate, but as the drying progresses,
It is necessary to lower the temperature in the drying room, otherwise, as the inside of the flower cells becomes concentrated,
Since the flower shape gradually collapses, it usually requires -30 ° C, and therefore requires an extremely long time.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention prevents the flowering of fresh flowers from being whitened when the flowers are dried,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a dried flower in which the primary color is sufficiently retained.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of studies to solve the above problems, the present inventor buries fresh flowers in granular form before freeze-drying or substitution dehydration drying of fresh flowers and Upon preliminary drying, it was found that the shape of fresh flowers is completely retained without being deformed at all, and further, dried flowers having sufficient primary colors are obtained without whitening of fresh flowers, leading to the completion of the present invention. It was

That is, the present invention is a method for producing a dried flower characterized by burying fresh flowers in a granular form, predrying this, and then performing freeze-drying or substitution dehydration drying.
In the present invention, various kinds of fresh flowers are targeted, and not only flowers but also stems and leaves associated with the flowers can be treated, and mushrooms and the like can be similarly treated. Fresh flowers are buried in granular ones and pre-dried.The granular ones do not develop color during use, are not affected by chemicals, and have a low water content. It can be used, and the grain size is preferably 1 mm or less, and the grain size up to about 70 μm is used. Specifically, glass beads, silica sand, plastic powder, peach husks, walnut husks, cork grains and the like are used.

When the fresh flowers to be dried are buried in the above-mentioned granules, the granules penetrate into the gaps on the outer surface of the fresh flowers to maintain the original form of the fresh flowers, and the preliminary drying in the next step results in the fresh flowers. The original shape does not collapse even when it becomes shrunk. The pre-drying of the present invention is to dry and remove a part of the water content of the fresh flower, especially the water content of the surface part of the fresh flower, and to dry it until the flowers and leaves become wilted. In addition, whitening of flowers and leaves is prevented. This preliminary drying can be done at high temperature in a short time, but the number of fresh flowers that do not turn black even when treated at high temperature is limited, so it is generally performed at room temperature or a little lower than that. Depending on the type of fresh flowers,
As long as it does not turn black or the petals and young leaves become transparent, it is advantageous to carry out the treatment at a high temperature for a short time because the degree of preliminary drying is small.

The degree of pre-drying varies depending on the type of fresh flower. (1) For the Japanese apricot, black lily, etc., a slight pre-drying of flowers and leaves prevents bleaching. For camellia etc., the flowers may be slightly dried,
Since leaves tend to whiten, it is necessary to increase predrying, and (3) cattleya, denfare, roses, etc. are intermediate between the above (1) and (2).

In the case of the above (1), predrying can be done in a short time, whether by dry air or vacuum drying, and generally 20 ° C.
It may be carried out for about 1 to 2 hours, and if it is carried out at a higher temperature, the drying time is shortened by that much, but if it is carried out at a too high temperature, it will adversely affect fresh flowers, so that it is preferably carried out up to about 30 ° C. In the case of the above (2), the flower part is often transparent or discolored under a temperature condition of 20 ° C. or higher, so it is necessary to perform the treatment at 12 to 13 ° C. for a long time. The one (3) is in the middle of the above (1) and (2), but in the end, the preliminary drying of the present invention is carried out at a temperature of 12 ° C. to 30 ° C. for about 30 minutes depending on the type of fresh flowers. Perform within a range of 5 hours.

After the preliminary drying as described above, freeze-drying or displacement dehydration drying is carried out. Freeze-drying is sufficient at a relatively high temperature, about -10 ° C is sufficient, and only the first half of the drying is frozen. If so, the purpose of drying is achieved. Although some fresh flowers can produce dried flowers only by freeze-drying, in that case, the flower shape collapses as the drying progresses. The reason for this is that even flowers that were initially hard and frozen gradually become softer as the drying progresses. To prevent this, drying must be performed in a chamber at -30 to -40 ° C, but this takes an extremely long time. Moreover, if pre-drying is not performed, many solids and types exhibiting a white spot pattern can be prevented by pre-drying. The substitution dehydration drying may be carried out by immersing the fresh flowers in an organic solvent such as ethanol, butanol, acetone, isopropanol or the like by a conventional method.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Next, examples of the present invention will be described. (Example 1) Cattleya flower A cattleya flower having a flower diameter of 15 cm was placed in a container having a diameter of 20 cm having ventilation holes at the top and the bottom, and 0.5 to 0.6 was added thereto.
Inject glass beads with a diameter of mm and completely fill them so as not to damage the shape of the flower. Next, the dry air that has passed the desiccant is sent from one of the vents, and is discharged to the other vent to predry the internal cattleya. At this time, the temperature of the dry air is 20 ° C. and the drying time is 3 hours. Leave the pre-dried Cattleya flowers in glass beads -1
Freeze at 2 ° C., freeze-dry immediately, and after complete drying, remove glass beads to obtain dried flowers.

(Example 2) Aoki flowers and leaves Aoki flowers and leaves were placed in a container having ventilation holes at the top and bottom, and glass beads having a diameter of 0.5 to 0.6 mm were poured into the container to give flowers and leaves. Fill completely so as not to damage the shape of the leaves. At this time, the glass beads are preliminarily kept at a temperature of 12 to 13 ° C., and the aerated dry air is also kept at the same temperature. Send the above dry air from one vent,
Aeration was stopped after 4 hours, pre-drying was completed, and the flowers and leaves of Aoki were frozen at -13 ° C with the glass beads still buried in the glass beads, vacuum freeze-drying was started as it was, and the glass beads were removed after complete drying. To obtain dried products.

(Example 3) Matsumo (with flowers) A container having ventilation holes at the top and bottom is placed in a container that is slightly larger than that, and is filled with water. The pine tree is allowed to float in this water, and the state is filled with 0.3 mm diameter glass beads. When the filling is completed, remove the outer container, completely drain the water in the inner container, send dry air from one of the vents, and pull out to the other vent to pre-dry the matsumo inside. At this time, the temperature of the dry air is 20 ° C. and the drying time is 1
Time. This pre-dried matsumo is put together with the container-10
After freezing in a freezer at ℃, freeze-drying is performed, and after complete drying, glass beads are removed to obtain a dried product.

Example 4 Sakura Grass Sakura grass is placed in a container having a net-like bottom, and cork grains having a diameter of 0.3 to 1.0 mm are poured into the container to completely fill the flowers so as not to damage the flowers. After that, dry air at 17 ° C. is passed through this container for preliminary drying for 5 hours. Next, a net-shaped dropping lid is placed on the top of the container, and the container is immersed in a butanol solution. At this time, in order to prevent the cork grains from floating, the drop lid is attached as described above. After the substitution dehydration is completed, the liquid is promptly drained, the dropping lid is removed and dried, and then the cork grains are removed and the cherry grass is taken out to obtain a dried product.

(Example 5) Katakuri (whole grass) In Example 4, 0.3 to 1.0 was used instead of cork grains.
Use Styrofoam with a diameter of mm and set the pre-drying temperature to 20
A dried product is obtained in the same manner as in Example 4, except that the temperature is set to 50 ° C. and the time is set to 50 minutes.

(Example 6) Black lily Put a flower with a branch of black lily in a container having a net-like bottom, and inject sand of 0.3 to 1.0 mm diameter so as not to damage the flower. After being completely filled, dry air at 25 ° C. is passed through this container to be pre-dried for 1 hour. Then, the container is immersed in a solution of isopropanol: butanol = 10: 90. After the displacement dehydration is completed, the liquid is promptly drained and dried, then the sand is removed and the black lily is taken out to obtain a dried product. The flower of black lily is mechanically strong, so it is convenient to use sand because it does not damage the flower when removing heavy sand.

(Example 7) Lotus flower and leaves Lotus flowers are tough, but they are huge, so if the granular material that fills them is not light in specific gravity, they often hurt the flowers. Suitable granules are plastic granules or cork granules, but in this example, plastic granules were used to save the trouble of applying a drop lid. Put lotus flowers and leaves in a net-shaped container, and add 0.
After injecting plastic particles having a diameter of 2 to 1.0 mm and completely filling the flowers and leaves so as not to damage them, dry air at 30 ° C. is passed through this container to perform predrying for 40 minutes. Then, the container is immersed in a solution of methanol: butanol = 5: 95. After the substitution dehydration is completed, the liquid is promptly drained and dried, and then the plastic grains are removed and the lotus flower and leaves are taken out to obtain a dried product.

[0018]

According to the present invention, when a fresh flower is dried, the shape of the fresh flower is maintained by burying it in a granular form, and pre-drying does not cause whitening of the fresh flower. Therefore, dried flowers that retain their original shape and primary color and are suitable for specimens can be obtained.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing a dried flower, which comprises burying a fresh flower in a granular form, predrying it, and then performing freeze-drying or substitution dehydration drying.