What is the glucose in dried vegetables?

When you buy dried vegetables that you can easily eat, you may find glucose listed on the ingredients label. What on earth is this? I'm sure there are people who have wondered about this. In this article, we will explain what glucose is.

Dried vegetables are easy to store,
Why add glucose?

Glucose is not a food additive (※1) but is treated as a food. Therefore, it is not wrong to use glucose in natural dried vegetables that do not list preservatives. Still, dried vegetables are preserved foods, so why is it necessary to add glucose to them instead of using only vegetables as ingredients?

There are three reasons why glucose is added to dried vegetables

• One reason is that it becomes more absorbent, making it quicker to rehydrate in hot water.
• The second reason is to prevent it from cracking or shattering.
• The third reason is to improve color and flavor. Vegetables that have been dried by soaking them in glucose are convenient and look nice, so glucose is still often used in natural dried vegetables.

However, recently there has been an increase in dried vegetables that are made only from vegetables and do not contain glucose, such as those from OYAOYA .

(※1) Reference page

Using glucose,
Are dried vegetables bad for you?

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's health information website, glucose is the only substance that the brain can use as energy and is also an important nutrient for the human body (*2).

Specifically, it can activate the brain, improve concentration and memory, and is also a source of energy for moving the body, so it can be expected to have the effect of recovering fatigue. However, as anyone who is concerned about carbohydrates knows, excessive intake should be avoided.

Glucose, which is also found in white rice and bread, turns into triglycerides if it is not consumed as energy, which can lead to obesity and lifestyle-related diseases.

You don't need to worry too much about the amount of glucose used in dried vegetables. However, if you are concerned about carbohydrates, dried vegetables without glucose may be a better option.

(※2) Reference page

OYAOYA's dried vegetables do not contain glucose.

Leave it to OYAOYA for glucose-free dried vegetables!

Instead of using glucose, they dry it slowly at low temperature, which makes it relatively soft enough to be enjoyed as is. Also, the ingredients are all vegetables carefully grown by farmers, so there is no need to rehydrate them in hot water when using them in soups or rice dishes.

The vegetable soup stock is delicious with the vegetable juice, which is full of the flavor of the vegetables. Since no glucose is used, the color will fade naturally, but the flavor lasts longer because the low-temperature drying process slowly brings out the flavor of the vegetables. When you eat dried vegetables that use glucose, you can feel an unnecessary sweetness...

We have a selection of new delicacies from the fields that even those with delicate palates will want to try.