Dried fruit is made from fresh fruits that are peeled and pitted, then cut into slices or chunks, soaked in sugar, and dried to achieve a semi-dry state. Preserved fruits are made by soaking in honey, thick syrup, etc. Dried fruits include: peach slices, plum slices, apple slices, pear slices, etc.; preserved fruits include: bayberry, preserved plums, western plums, olives, and hawthorn fruit. In China, there has long been a saying of 'southern preserved fruits and northern dried fruits', where the south mainly produces moist products while the north focuses on dry products, commonly referred to as 'northern dried fruits and southern preserved fruits'.

The development of the preserved fruit market has a long history; however, due to various reasons, its growth has been relatively slow. In recent years, with the introduction of modern production techniques for preserved fruits and dried fruits, the market has experienced a significant leap. Preserved fruits and dried fruits use fresh fruits and vegetables as raw materials; they are rich in various vitamins and fiber, nutritious and sweet in taste, increasingly favored by consumers. However, behind the deliciousness lies consumers' concerns about food safety issues related to preserved fruits. To fundamentally change the quality of preserved foods, reforms in production processes are necessary. Companies producing preserved foods should abandon traditional methods like 'boiling and sun-drying' and adopt mechanized industrial production while focusing on improving hygiene conditions during production to achieve future development goals of low-sugar healthiness. Additionally, companies can broaden their horizons beyond using vegetables and melons as raw materials to explore new ingredients such as flowers, wild fruits, and medicinal herbs to cultivate new types of preserved products. However, currently in the market, preserved products still mainly consist of melons and vegetables which hold a significant position in people's lives. The reform in production processes allows for different flavors from similar raw material-based preserved products.