# Evaluation of Different Drying Methods on the Quality Parameters of _Acanthopanax semicosus_ Fruits
## 5 Conclusions  
This study demonstrated differences in AS fruit quality depending on drying methods, with VFD consistently superior in preserving bioactive components and overall quality. VFD-treated fruits maintained the highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents (e.g., chlorogenic acid, rutin, quercetin), essential amino acids, and antioxidant activities. Furthermore, VFD effectively minimized color degradation, closely matching fresh fruit characteristics. ND preserved bioactive compounds moderately well due to low-temperature exposure, resulting in antioxidant activity second only to VFD; however, prolonged drying time and susceptibility to contamination limit its industrial applicability. MD provided intermediate results, retaining bioactive compounds and antioxidant activities better than HD but inferior to VFD, reflecting moderate thermal damage. Conversely, HD led to considerable degradation of phenolic compounds, volatiles, and severe color deterioration, significantly reducing antioxidant capacity. VD showed the poorest retention of bioactive constituents and antioxidant activity (approximately one-fifth to one-sixth of VFD), marking it as the least suitable drying technique for AS fruits. Overall, drying methods ranked as follows in preserving AS fruit quality: VFD (optimal) > ND, MD, HD (moderate) > VD (least recommended). The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods14071100/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods14071100/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods14071100/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods14071100/s1)), Table S1. Separation gradient conditions for liquid chromatography. Table S2. Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) in AS fruits subjected to different drying methods. Table S3. Calibration Curve Parameters and Recovery Rates of Components. Table S4. Identification and Characterization of Volatile Compounds Based on Mass Spectrometry and Retention Indices in AS Fruits Treated with Different Drying Methods. Table S5. Analysis of volatile compounds with VIP > 1.0 in AS fruits treated with different drying methods. Table S6. The compounds that meet the dual criteria of VIP > 1 and \(p\) < 0.05 in AS fruits treated with different drying methods. Table S7. Analysis of Antioxidant Activity in AS fruits treated with different drying methods. Figure S1. Chromatogram of the standards solution. The chromatographic peaks were numbered as follows: (1) protocatechuric acid, (2) eleutheroside B, (3) chlorogenic acid, (4) eleutheroside E, (5) quercitrin, (6) hyperoside, (7) isofnxidin, and (8) rutin. Figure S2. Chromatogram of the VFD sample. The chromatographic peaks were numbered as follows: (1) protocatechuric acid, (2) eleutheroside B, (3) chlorogenic acid, (4) eleutheroside E, (5) quercitrin, (6) hyperoside, (7) isofnxidin, and (8) rutin. Figure S3. Principal components analysis of main active ingredients of AS fruit under five different drying methods. Figure S4. Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis of volatile compounds in AS fruit subjected to five different drying methods. Figure S5. Variable importance in projection (VIP) values of characteristic volatile compounds (a) and permutation test results (b) for volatile compounds in five groups of AS fruit samples subjected to different drying methods. Conceptualization, writing-original draft, and validation, C.Z. ; methodology, X.S. ; visualization and software, Y.X. and M.Y. ; investigation, Z.H. ; data curation and formal analysis, J.Y. ; resources, X.Z. ; supervision, project administration and funding acquisition, Z.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Special investigation on basic technology resources (2019 FY100505); Key R&D plan project of Heilongjiang Province (JD22A008). Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/Supplementary Materials.