Most botanicals are woody and fibrous. The woody fiber (cell walls)
generally makes most botanicals difficult to digest. Thousands of years
ago, humans discovered that cooking, making teas, decoctions and soups
with water and/or alcohol improved the potency and efficacy of the
foods, beverages, tonics and medicines they consumed.
When a botanical is boiled in water or extracted in alcohol or other
solvent, the constituents of the botanical are released from the fiber
that
contains them and are dissolved into the liquid medium. The resulting
“tea,” or paste is highly assimilable. Also, it is much easier to
consume
because the material has been “reduced” to a much smaller volume and yet
the potency is higher. Without the extraction, the body would
have to do a digestive “extraction” of the materials bound to the fiber,
adding much stress to our GI tract. Since we do not have the digestive
tract of a ruminate, this “extraction” method is not very effective, nor
is it efficient.
Of course, the technology back then was primitive, relying on simple stove boiling to break down cell
walls. Amazingly, extraction technology has not changed much even during the industrial-scientific
era - it is just performed on a much larger scale. We still rely on the application of heat to a tank of
solvents such as water or alcohol for several hours until the constituents of the raw herbs have been
released into the hot solvents.
However, the traditional heated extraction has its downsides besides its benefits.
- It is not suitable for extracting heat sensitive substances such as protein, amino acids,
essential oils and enzymes.
- Starch and saccharides of low molecular weight can gelatinize and become cohesive under
heat, preventing the effective release and extraction of active ingredients.
- Substances with no or few pharmacological effects can be released simultaneously.
- The heated process accelerates the oxidation process.
- It can result in polymerization and decomposition of active constituents.
Because FITT™ technology is effective, easy, ecological and economical, we fondly named these instant granules eeTee™.
FITT, the technology of the next generation
Now for the first time, a cutting edge extraction technology is
available for commercial extraction of botanicals. Dragon Herbs’ new
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Identical Transfer Technology™ (FITT™) is a patented green extraction
technology of the 21st century. It is the most advanced commercial
extraction technology in the world.
How does the FITT™ process work?
FITT™ is a proprietary process that utilizes mechanical forces to break
the raw materials down to micron level. The materials are “shaken”
loose at tremendous speed, resulting in instantaneous extraction of both
water-soluble and alcohol-soluble components from the raw
material into the solvent. The entire process is performed at a low to
moderate temperature that never exceeds 40°C (104° F), thus
eliminating the drawbacks of a heated extraction.