Depending on what you need
Dehydrated or extract: chosen by function
A dehydrated ingredient keeps the flavour, aroma and colour of the fruit or vegetable, and it is used to bring them to your product. An extract concentrates the secondary metabolites of the plant and fixes them at a figure, and its grade is chosen by where it will be applied. They do not compete: they solve different needs. Start from what the ingredient has to do and we help you pick the best option.
What does it have to do in your product?
Dehydrated
Organoleptic function
It gives or enhances the flavour, aroma and colour of the fruit or vegetable. It is dosed by the intensity you want in the finished product.
- Powdered drinks and smoothies
- Bakery, snacks and cereals
- Seasonings, sauces and soups
- Dairy, ice cream and desserts
Extract
Secondary-metabolite supply
It delivers polyphenols, curcuminoids, saponins and other compounds in a declared amount. The grade is chosen by application: a capsule, a clear beverage and a cream do not take the same one.
- Capsules and tablets
- Functional beverages, clear ones included
- Cosmetics and dermocosmetics
- Sports and clinical nutrition
When what you need is the active
If your product has to declare an amount of a metabolite, these are the figures that decide. If what you are after is flavour, aroma or colour, they are not the ones that matter.
Dehydrated
Milled turmeric
The dried, milled plant, with its whole matrix.
3%
curcuminoids of total weight
Typical range in the literature: 2–5%. It shifts with each harvest.
Extract
NATEXSA extract
The secondary metabolites, concentrated and adjusted to specification.
95%
curcuminoids of total weight
NTX-EX-0001 · HPLC (USP)
Yield
It takes roughly 30 kg of dried rhizome for every kg of extract. Of 100 kg going in, about 3.3 kg come out: the rest is fibre, starch, water and compounds that are not the active.
Active dose
A 500 mg capsule of extract delivers 475 mg of curcuminoids. Delivering the same with milled plant would take 15.8 g — some 32 capsules —, which is why the extract is used when the label declares the active.
Dehydrated
Milled leaf
The dried, milled plant, with its whole matrix.
22%
polyphenols of total weight
Typical range in the literature: 19–25%. It shifts with each harvest.
Extract
NATEXSA extract
The secondary metabolites, concentrated and adjusted to specification.
98%
polyphenols of total weight
NTX-EX-0002 · UV-VIS / HPLC
Yield
It takes roughly 5 kg of dried leaf for every kg of extract. Of 100 kg going in, about 20 kg come out: the rest is fibre, starch, water and compounds that are not the active.
Active dose
A 500 mg capsule of extract delivers 490 mg of polyphenols. Delivering the same with milled plant would take 2.2 g — some 4 capsules —, which is why the extract is used when the label declares the active.
Dehydrated
Milled fruit
The dried, milled plant, with its whole matrix.
2%
silymarin of total weight
Typical range in the literature: 1.5–3%. It shifts with each harvest.
Extract
NATEXSA extract
The secondary metabolites, concentrated and adjusted to specification.
80%
silymarin of total weight
NTX-EX-0003 · UV-VIS
Yield
It takes roughly 40 kg of dried fruit for every kg of extract. Of 100 kg going in, about 2.5 kg come out: the rest is fibre, starch, water and compounds that are not the active.
Active dose
A 500 mg capsule of extract delivers 400 mg of silymarin. Delivering the same with milled plant would take 20 g — some 40 capsules —, which is why the extract is used when the label declares the active.
Extract percentages come from our own technical sheets. Milled-plant figures are mid-points of published ranges and shift with each harvest. Yield is the marker balance at full recovery; on the plant floor the real figure runs somewhat higher.
How each one is made
The first two stages are shared. The dehydrated ingredient leaves after milling, with its flavour, aroma and colour; the extract carries on until its metabolites are concentrated and fixed at a figure.
- Shared by both
- Extract only
- Shared by both01
Raw material
In comes the fruit, the vegetable or the plant part to be used — rhizome, leaf or fruit —, botanically identified and checked on arrival.
Identity · moisture · pesticides
- Shared by both02
Drying and milling
Water is removed and particle size is reduced. What leaves this stage, sieved and packed, is the dehydrated ingredient: it keeps the flavour, aroma and colour of the vegetable.
Moisture · particle size
The dehydrated ingredient leaves here
- Extract only03
Extraction
The solvent — water, ethanol or a blend — dissolves the active and leaves fibre and starch behind. The solvent decides what comes along.
Water / ethanol
- Extract only04
Filtration and concentration
Spent biomass is separated and the solvent is evaporated under vacuum, at low temperature so as not to degrade what was just extracted.
≤ 65 °C, under vacuum
- Extract only05
Purification and standardisation
The fraction is purified and the marker is adjusted to the value on the sheet. Not a range: a figure, with its analytical method beside it.
HPLC · UV-VIS
- Extract only06
Drying and release
Spray-dried to a fine powder, blended to uniformity and released with the batch certificate of analysis.
Inlet 200–220 °C · outlet 80–100 °C
What to look at in each one
Aspect
Dehydrated
Extract
- What it is
- DehydratedThe fruit, vegetable or plant without its water and milled, with its whole matrix: flavour, aroma, colour and fibre.
- ExtractThe secondary-metabolite fraction, separated from the rest and taken to a fixed concentration.
- What it is used for
- DehydratedOrganoleptic function: giving or enhancing flavour, aroma and colour.
- ExtractSupplying secondary metabolites, in the grade the application calls for.
- How it is dosed
- DehydratedIn grams or as a percentage of the formula, by the sensory intensity you are after.
- ExtractIn milligrams of active per serving. It fits in a capsule, a stick or a glass of beverage.
- Behaviour in the formula
- DehydratedIt disperses and adds body and texture; in beverages it stays in suspension.
- ExtractWater-soluble grades exist for clear beverages and aqueous systems.
- What gets specified
- DehydratedMoisture, particle size, sensory profile and microbiology.
- ExtractMarker, percentage, test method and residual solvents.
- Lot documentation
- DehydratedData sheet and certificate of analysis of the lot.
- ExtractData sheet and certificate of analysis of the lot, with the marker assay and its method.