Iranian Company Produces Essence from Moisture of Fruits during Drying Process
“Essence extraction is being promoted by the company in a traditional way. We boil the raw materials with indirect heat and obtain the essence from the steam,” Hassan Abdollahzadeh, the managing director of Ardabil Machine-Making company, stationed at the incubator center of Islamic Azad University’s Ardabil branch, told ANA.
“In this process, two products are obtained; we dry the fruits and at the same time extract essence, and the added value of the essence is twice that of the dried product,” he said.
“When we put 1,000 kg of fruit into the machine, at the end 100 kg of dried product is taken, and we do not allow the loss of fruit moisture and produce the by-product of essence,” Abdollahzadeh added.
A member of the Iranian Medicinal Herbs Exporters Union said in January that Iran had exported millions of dollars worth of medicinal herbs and extracts to different European countries.
“In 2018, with an investment of 25 million Euros, the largest factory and refinery of medicinal plants in the Middle East was inaugurated in Central city of Kashmar for the extraction of essential oils, extracts and high quality medicinal herbs. The products of the company are exported to the European Union including Germany, France, Spain, Holland, America, India and China,” Qassem Shakeri said.
“This essential oil and extracts of medicinal plants obtained with the latest technology are used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, health, perfume and cologne industries as well as food industry,” he added.
“Essential oils and extracts are obtained from medicinal plants such as licorice, rose tea, green tea, black tea, ivy, echinacea angustifolia, saffron etc., and even in some cases, some non-native Iranian medicinal plants that are also imported from African countries, Japan and India and their obtained products are exported to destination countries after processing,” he added.
Stating that Iran has very good potential and capabilities in producing and exporting medicinal plants, the member of the Iranian Medicinal Herbs Exporters Union added, “In recent years, the inclination of people to live a healthier life with natural plants has been growing not only in Iran but also in other parts of world.”
4155/v
