Dried lemon, green tea powder, dried lotus seeds, dried flower petals... Recently, various bagged or canned fruit and flower teas have become all the rage. Dried fruit and flower teas are affordable, easy to purchase and carry, making them a favorite of many office workers.
So, what is the difference in nutritional value between dried and fresh fruits and flowers? Professor Jiang Weibo from the College of Food Science at China Agricultural University states that after the process of drying and heating, the nutritional value of fruits and flowers is certainly lost, with the most significant loss being antioxidants. Vitamin C is almost completely gone, and anthocyanins also suffer considerable loss. For fruits like lemons, known for their high vitamin C content, the main nutrients are destroyed even after drying, despite retaining a sour taste.
Furthermore, brewing with dried peels, like dried tangerine peel, may pose other health risks. The most typical concern is that if pesticides are sprayed, the fat-soluble toxic components can be absorbed into the peels, while the flesh part remains uncontaminated.
Some might wonder, since black tea and green tea also undergo a drying process, do their nutrients also "disappear"? In response, Shen Hong, a National First-Class Tea Taster, explains that drying tea removes moisture, making it easier to store and enhancing its aroma. Its nutritional content is not significantly different from fresh tea. As for green tea powder, Shen Hong believes that the grinding process only increases the tea's concentration and allows it to steep more easily, without causing significant loss of nutrients.
Therefore, to fully reap the health benefits of fruit and flower teas, one should consume fresh-squeezed lemon juice as much as possible and limit the intake of teas with peels. For green tea, both powder and whole leaves are suitable, whether dry or brewed.