12. WATER ACTIVITY

UMES EXTENSION

‡ The goal of drying is to lower the water activity. Aw > 0.85 can cause illness and Aw > 0.60 can cause spoilage. ‡ Have samples of your dried herbs tested for water activity level by a certified food testing laboratory (ex. Microbac baltimore_food@ microbac.com) or contact Dr. Melinda Schwarz at University of Maryland Eastern Shore (mschwarz@umes.edu), especially if you’re in the formulation stage. ‡ Whenever you change a drying method, you’ll need to submit a new Aw test.

READ 12A