Freeze-Dried Strawberry Powder Specification: What Each Line Means for Your Product
Freeze-dried strawberry powder is whole strawberries, frozen, dried under vacuum and milled, with nothing added. A workable specification fixes six lines: 100% strawberry, 60–80 or 100 mesh with ≥95% passing, moisture ≤5.0% (released at ≤3.0%), water activity ≤0.30 (released at ≤0.25), ready-to-eat micro limits, and foil packing with desiccant. FruitBuys Vietnam supplies it from Da Lat fruit to that standard.
Each of those lines decides something on your side: how long the powder pours in a warm warehouse, how fast an auger filler runs, whether a drink is smooth or gritty, whether the label can say Strawberries and nothing else. This guide walks through the spec sheet line by line, compares freeze-dried with spray-dried powder in numbers, and shows how to read a powder COA. The product page is freeze-dried strawberry powder; the buying guide for all strawberry formats is freeze-dried strawberries in bulk.
What is freeze-dried strawberry powder?
It is the whole strawberry with the water taken out. Fresh Da Lat strawberries are washed, hulled and in the freezer within 24 hours of picking, frozen at −30 to −40 °C, then dried under vacuum at 10–50 Pa, so the ice turns straight to vapour without melting. The dry fruit is milled in a chilled system in a dehumidified room at 22–25 °C and below 35–40% RH, then packed straight into foil.
Because nothing is added and the fruit never sees hot air, the powder keeps the strawberry’s own colour, sweet-tart aroma, fibre and vitamin C. Each kilo is made from 10–12 kg of clean, hulled strawberries, or 12.5–16 kg of fresh fruit bought at the farm gate. Container orders run as a dedicated powder run, fruit freeze-dried and milled straight after; trial lots are milled from export-grade slices and crumble of released lots, to the same limits.
Full specification table
| Parameter | Specification | What it means for your line |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredient | 100% strawberries · free-flowing version: + up to 1% silicon dioxide (E551) | One-word label; free-flowing version for high-speed filling |
| Particle size | 60–80 mesh, ≥95% passing (about 180–250 µm) · 100 mesh (about 150 µm) on request | Mesh decides mouthfeel in drinks and speck size in bakes |
| Seeds | Milled in (standard) · seed-reduced, sieved, on request | Specks prove real fruit; sieved for clear drinks and smooth ice cream |
| Moisture | ≤5.0% contract; released at ≤3.0%, typically 1.5–2.5% | The margin that keeps powder pouring through a warm summer |
| Water activity | ≤0.30 contract; released at ≤0.25 | Microbiologically stable at ambient; no free water added to chocolate |
| Bulk density | 350–480 g/L, loose to tapped | Sets dosing volume: a 10 g stick takes about 21–29 ml |
| Colour | Natural pink to red | Colour follows pH; see below |
| Taste and aroma | Sweet-tart, characteristic strawberry | No flavouring needed at 5–10% |
| Total plate count | ≤10⁴ CFU/g | Ready-to-eat limit |
| Yeasts and moulds | ≤10² CFU/g | Ready-to-eat limit |
| E. coli | <10 CFU/g | Hygiene indicator |
| Salmonella | Not detected in 25 g | Safe for no-cook use in drinks, dairy and frostings |
| Foreign matter | Metal detection at Fe 1.5 mm / non-Fe 2.0 mm | Detector record available for your supplier audit |
| Packing | 5 kg aluminium-foil bags, gently de-aerated, food-grade silica gel; 4 bags per 20 kg carton | One bag per production batch |
| Shelf life | 12 months at ≤25 °C, RH ≤60%; 18–24 months at ≤18 °C, RH ≤50% | Hold a season’s stock at ambient |
| HS code | 1106.30 (powder of Chapter 8 fruit) | Not 0813 like the pieces |
Which mesh fits your line?
Mesh is the size of the sieve the powder passes through: the higher the number, the finer the powder.
| Your product | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Café drinks, shakes, milk teas | 100 mesh | Wets out fast in a shaker; no grain on the tongue |
| Ready-to-drink bottles | 100 mesh, seed-reduced | Smooth suspension; no specks settling in the bottle |
| Yogurt, ice cream, dairy desserts | 100 mesh, seeds in or sieved | Seeds in for a “real fruit” fleck; sieved for a smooth scoop |
| Frostings, fillings, creams | 60–80 or 100 mesh | Either works; 100 mesh for a silky buttercream |
| Bakery mixes, cookies, cakes | 60–80 mesh | Visible red specks in the crumb read as real strawberry |
| Solid chocolate | 60–80 mesh, refined with the sugar | The refiner takes particle size down with the rest of the mass |
| Stick packs and sachets | Free-flowing, 60–80 or 100 mesh | Up to 1% silicon dioxide keeps auger heads dosing through a shift |
The mesh is fixed on the pre-shipment sample, and FruitBuys checks it against your approved sample before each container. Doses by application are in strawberry powder uses and dosage for food brands.
Want the spec sheet and a sample in your mesh? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp +84 919 739 589 with your application and filling equipment. REQUEST SPEC SHEET / SAMPLE →
Why does strawberry powder clump, and how do you stop it?
Because it is real fruit. With no carrier, the powder is about half natural fruit sugar, and fruit sugar pulls water from the air. Particles pressed together in a bag form soft clumps that break with a stir or a sieve; that is normal and a sign there is no maltodextrin in the bag. Hard caking is different: it means the powder has taken on moisture.
Three numbers keep it pouring:
- Release at ≤3.0% moisture and aw ≤0.25, below the ≤5.0% / ≤0.30 contract limit. That margin is what the powder spends in a warm warehouse or a humid filling room before it starts to cake.
- Pack in foil, not plastic. A single PE liner lets moisture through over weeks; FruitBuys packs 5 kg aluminium-foil bags with a food-grade silica gel sachet, gently de-aerated, and no iron-based oxygen absorbers in powder.
- Handle below 40% RH. Open one 5 kg bag per batch in a room at ≤25 °C and below 40% RH, keep the hopper covered, and leave the other three bags in the carton sealed until their own batch. A part-used bag, pressed flat and resealed with its desiccant, stays usable for about two weeks.
If your filling room is open to plant air or your auger line runs a full shift, specify the free-flowing version; it is the one change that keeps a high-speed line running without stoppages.
How well does it hold colour and flavour?
Better than any heat-dried strawberry, because freeze-drying never cooks the fruit. The pink is anthocyanin, the strawberry’s own pigment, and two things fade it over time: light and oxygen. That is why the powder ships in opaque foil, and why your finished product needs opaque or high-barrier packaging too.
In use, the colour follows acidity: bright red-pink in yogurt, lemonade and fillings below about pH 4, softer and slightly mauve in milk, grey-violet in a batter raised with baking soda, and fading in bakes above about 180 °C for more than 20 minutes. The aroma is strongest in cold and gently warmed products. Plan the application around those rules and the powder delivers its colour; ignore them and no strawberry ingredient will.
Freeze-dried vs spray-dried strawberry powder
Both are sold as “strawberry powder”. They are different products:
| Freeze-dried (FruitBuys) | Spray-dried | |
|---|---|---|
| Raw material | Whole strawberries, frozen and dried, then milled | Juice or purée, sprayed into hot air |
| Drying | Below 0 °C under vacuum, 18–24 hours or more | Hot air, typically around 150–200 °C at the inlet, seconds |
| Carrier | None | Maltodextrin or similar, commonly 10–50% of the powder |
| Ingredient line | Strawberries | Strawberry, maltodextrin |
| Fruit per kg of powder | All of it: the solids of 10–12 kg of clean strawberries | Reduced by the carrier share |
| Colour and aroma | Natural red-pink, fresh strawberry | Paler, cooked notes; often boosted with flavouring |
| Fibre and seeds | Kept | Mostly removed with the pulp |
| Behaviour in water | Disperses as fruit | Dissolves more readily, clearer |
| Moisture pick-up | Higher: handle below 40% RH | Lower, because of the carrier |
| Dose for the same taste | Lowest | Higher |
Compare on cost per kilo of fruit, not per kilo of powder. If a spray-dried powder is 40% carrier, divide its price by 0.6 to see what you pay per kilo of strawberry solids, then add the higher dose your recipe needs. Ask any supplier for the fruit percentage and the ingredient line in writing; FruitBuys states both on every quote.
When spray-dried fits better: a very low-cost flavour note in a sweet beverage mix where a clear solution matters more than a one-word label. If you want fruit and still need easy flow, the free-flowing freeze-dried version is the middle path.
How do you read a powder COA?
Look for numbers, a lot number and methods, not the word “pass”. Every full-container lot from FruitBuys ships with a COA from an independent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited third-party laboratory. A useful COA shows:
| Line | What to check | Typical method |
|---|---|---|
| Lot number and production date | Match the cartons and the packing list | – |
| Moisture | A measured %, against ≤5.0% (release target ≤3.0%) | Vacuum oven, AOAC 934.06 |
| Water activity | A measured value, against ≤0.30 | ISO 18787 |
| Total plate count | ≤10⁴ CFU/g | ISO 4833-1 |
| Yeasts and moulds | ≤10² CFU/g | ISO 21527-2 |
| E. coli | <10 CFU/g | ISO 16649-2 |
| Salmonella | Not detected in 25 g | ISO 6579-1 |
Red flags in any supplier’s COA: results written as “pass” or “complies” without numbers, moisture without water activity, no lot number, or a date long before production. Lead, arsenic and aflatoxin are covered by periodic surveillance testing, with reports on request. For market or customer panels, such as pesticide multi-residue, cadmium, Listeria and Enterobacteriaceae, or a nutrition panel for label artwork, FruitBuys arranges independent testing at an accredited laboratory of your choice, such as Eurofins or SGS in Vietnam, before the container is sealed. How moisture and water activity are measured and set is covered in freeze-dried strawberry specs: moisture, aw and COA.
Nutrition snapshot per 100 g
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 340 kcal |
| Total fat | 3 g |
| Total carbohydrate | 81 g |
| Dietary fibre | 21 g |
| Total sugars | 52 g (0 g added) |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Potassium | 1,620 mg |
| Vitamin C | 624 mg |
Typical values for 100% freeze-dried strawberries; natural variation by origin, season and ripeness applies. Lot nutrition panel available for label artwork.
A 10 g dose adds about 34 kcal, 2 g of fibre and the fruit’s own vitamin C, with no added sugar on the label. Label formats for the US and EU are in freeze-dried strawberry nutrition facts.
Put the specification into your RFQ
Send your application, mesh, seeds in or sieved, standard or free-flowing, filling equipment, annual volume and destination. FruitBuys returns the full specification, a production-lot sample, and a COA format your QA team can approve before the first order. Trials start at 50–100 kg; containers carry about 11 t per 20ft.
REQUEST SPEC SHEET / SAMPLE →
Email [email protected] · WhatsApp Export +84 919 739 589
FAQ
What is freeze-dried strawberry powder?
Whole strawberries that are washed, hulled, frozen, dried under vacuum and milled, with nothing added. It keeps the fruit’s own colour, aroma, fibre and vitamin C, and the ingredient line reads Strawberries. Each kilo is made from 10–12 kg of clean strawberries.
Is freeze-dried strawberry powder healthy?
It is concentrated strawberry: per 100 g, about 21 g of fibre, 624 mg of vitamin C and 1,620 mg of potassium, with no added sugar. Cereal, bar, drink-mix and nutrition brands use it to deliver vitamin C and fibre from real fruit, with no synthetic ascorbic acid on the label; at a high enough dose the finished product can carry a vitamin C claim. The 52 g of sugar per 100 g is the fruit’s own.
How many calories are in freeze-dried strawberry powder?
About 340 kcal per 100 g, or about 34 kcal in a 10 g dose, which carries the fruit of 100–120 g of fresh strawberries.
Does freeze-dried strawberry powder contain added sugar?
Not the FruitBuys standard powder: it is 100% strawberries. Check any supplier’s ingredient line; spray-dried and flavoured powders often add maltodextrin, sugar or dextrose.
Why does strawberry powder clump?
Because it is about half natural fruit sugar with no carrier, and fruit sugar draws moisture from the air. Soft clumps break with a stir. Keep bags sealed, open one bag per batch below 40% RH, and choose the free-flowing version for high-speed filling lines.
