Nutrient Losses of Tremella fuciformis During Water-soaking

Prior to dehydration, freshly harvested Tremella fuciformis are generally soaked in water. The procedure causes losses of nutritional and solid contents in the edible white fungi. To reduce the losses and determine the optimal soaking time, an experiment was conducted. It was found that the occurrence of the greatest loss of a substance(s) varied by the length of soaking time. Most of the dry matters was leached out after soaking for 1 h; the polysaccharides, 1.5 h; the crude protein, 2 h; the total triterpenoids, 50 min; and, the crude fat, 1.5 h. Taking all factors into consideration, 1 h to 1.5 h was recommended for the operation, as it would minimize the nutrient loss, and at the same time, render a bright color and a flowery appearance of the fungi ready for subsequent dehydration.