Objective： The changes of moisture and texture characteristics in the moistening process of Moutan Cortex were quantitatively characterized， so as to explore the scientific connotation of the traditional experience of Moutan Cortex moistening.,Methods,2,The dynamic change of water absorption during the moistening process of Moutan Cortex was evaluated by the water absorption kinetics curve. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance technology was used to analyze the changes of water phase and distribution state during the moistening process of Moutan Cortex. The changes of texture characteristics of Moutan Cortex during moisturizing were measured by texture analyzer. HPLC was used to determine the content changes of active ingredients in the moisturizing process of Moutan Cortex.,Results,2,The water absorption rate was increased with the increment of the moistening temperature， and was decreased with the increasing grade of the medicinal material. The water absorption kinetic model of different grades of Moutan Cortex at 10~30 ℃ was established to predict the water absorption rate of different moisturizing time at different temperatures. During the moistening process， the proportion of bound water and free water changed continuously， within 5 h， the proportion of bound water in high-grade Moutan Cortex was decreased from 92.8% to 14.3%， and the proportion of free water was increased from 7.2% to 85.7%， after 7 h， all was transformed into free water. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance imaging showed that water had evenly infiltrated inside the Moutan Cortex after moistening for 5 h and there was no dry core inside at this time. The analysis of texture characteristics showed that the hardness and compression work were decreased with the increase of moistening time， the hardness was decreased from 3612 g to 444 g and the compression work were decreased from 208 mJ to 23 mJ within 5 h， at which time the hardness of the medicinal material was moderate， and the texture characteristics tended to be stable after 5 h. The contents of paeonol and paeoniflorin were decreased gradually with the extension of moistening time， indicating that the longer moistening time， the more loss of medicinal substances.,Conclusion,2,Water absorption kinetics combined with modern technologies such as low-field nuclear magnetic resonance and texture analyzer can quantitatively characterize the moistening process of Moutan Cortex， which can provide data support for the judgment of the end point of Moutan Cortex moistening and process optimization.