INSTANT NOODLES

Packaging of noodle

2012-05-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Packaging for instant noodles is important not only because it serves as a food container but also because it provides an attractive image of the product to consumers.

A good packaging material for other products does not automatically make it equally good for packaging noodle.

Bag type instant noodles are popular all over the world because of their affordable prices.

The plastic film used to pack instant noodles must have a good heat-sealing property. Polypropylene is the most popular choice for making this type of packaging.

Normally in the final stage where the finished products has a moisture content of less than 10%, the noodles and accompanying soup base packet are automatically packaged into a bag or cup.

Packaging of noodle

Nudeln in Germany

2012-04-17T19:00:00.002-07:00

In central Europe, the name for pasta comes from the Latin nodellus, which evolved into nouilles in French, nudeln in German and noodles in English.

German culinary culture gave a place special importance to fresh pasta with a wide array of nudeln.

The editors of the Encyclopedie, which began publication in 1751, has an entry for nudeln, pasta made with pure wheat flour, milk and butter, rolled out with rolling pin and cut into strips.

Nudeln may be cooked and treated in much the same way as spaghetti or other pastas. In German nudeln are generally boiled drained and mixed with melted butter or bacon fat.

They are seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, poppy seeds, finely chopped dill or parsley, crumbled cooked bacon – the seasoning added depends on the food being served with the noodles.

Alfred Sidgwick stated in 1908 that nearly all German soups were good, some of the best not known in England. Nudelsuppe was noodle ins strong chicken stock, the nudeln of the early soups rolled by hand as thin as paper.

Nudeln in Germany

The pasta

2012-03-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

The word pasta literally means ‘dough’ or ‘paste’. Pasta is a generic term used in reference to the whole range of products commonly known as spaghetti, macaroni, and noodles.

Italians, who are the largest consumers of pasta products in the world, call this product ‘pasta alimentare’.

Basic pasta is made with durum wheat semolina and waters which is passed through a die to make shaped pastas or long pasta such as spaghetti.

The basic pasta dough may be flavored or colored in various ways and common flavorings include spinach, garlic and chopped herbs.

Production and consumption of the various pasta products, which number approximately 150 in the United States , including spaghetti and macaroni; short cut products such as elbows, shells, and noodles; and such specialty products as bow ties, rigatoni, lasagna, etc.

Its preparation, essentially a household activity is both easy and quick and this probably explains, at least in part, why pasta is one of the most widespread pleasures of the world’s table.

It is rates as one of the most versatile food. It is adaptable to just about any vegetable, meat or fish one might have on hand.

Italy is generally regarded as the home of pasta products. They appear to have been first developed in Sicily and later in Japan. Certainly Italy is the country which pasta products are most readily identified.

It is on record that the Chinese at pasta as early as 5,000 BC. Pasta products, as what the people know them, were first made in Italy over 800 years ago. In the fifteenth century, Italians learned how to make noodles from the Germans, who had previously learned the process in their travels to Asia.

Others argue that the Roman poet Horace was the first to write about pasta with his mention of laganum, a possible ancestor do today’s lasagna.

Some think that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy in 1279. It doesn’t take an expert to confirm that a pasta is Italy’s most famous and popular food, the country’s preeminent contribution to its culinary culture.

In Germany, this product is called Nudeln, and it is still the more popular type of pasta consumed in that country.
The pasta

Traditional process of kneading or sheeting of pasta

2012-03-02T17:23:00.002-08:00

One important element that is often overlooked is a well ventilated kitchen without breezes or air conditioning.

A dough is first made of by mixing semolina and water to give a moisture content of about 30% in the dough.

Wheat semolina is the most common raw material with granulation ranging from 200 to 300 um and containing 0.8-0.9% of ash in dry mass, 12-13% of protein and no less than 30% of wet gluten of good quality.

It is to ensure the viscosity of the dough is low enough to avoid the use of excessive pressure within extruder.

The dough is kneaded brought to a temperature of about 49 °C. Kneading is critical as it works the flours gluten content, resulting in a firm yet tender dough.

It is important if rolling and cutting by hand, as the more elastic the dough, the easier it will be to roll.

At the end of the kneading process, the dough is sent to the dough sheeter, and is then extruded through a hydraulic press to form a thin sheet which can then be cut into strips and the strips carefully dried.

Temperature not above 49 °C to prevent cooking the product and avoid denaturing the protein.

Traditional process of kneading or sheeting of pasta

Timeline History of Noodles

2011-11-23T02:09:00.000-08:00

The whole history of noodles is one of innovation over the centuries. Noodles were gradually adopted by other cultures around the world.
5000 B.C.
Wheat flour, believed to originate in the Middle East, serves as the basis of the first “noodles.”

4000 BC
Noodles have been a staple in the Chinese diet.

200 BC
Handmade noodles were well established by the time of Han Dynasty (206 BC- 220 AD).

25
Migration of noodles proceeded quickly throughout southeast Asia, arriving in Japan.

300
The Chinese form whole grain paste into various noodle-like products.

500-600
Amidst numerous cultural exchanges, China shares Buddhism and the art of noodle-making with Japan. Buckwheat noodles become a staple of the Japanese tea ceremony.

1138
Arab geographer, Idrisi, travels to Sicily and writes about “triyah,” a food resembling threads and produced in large quantities.

1400
Marco Polo, the great Venetian adventurer, introduced the Chinese staple dish to Italy upon returning from his travels in the Far East.

1700
The very first spaghetti is produced in Napoli, Italy.

1800
Japanese specialty shops create noodles, similar to those eaten today, but requiring considerable preparation time and effort.
Durum pasta had become street food in Naples, and common in much of Italy.

1958
Nissin company first developed instant noodle. Chicken ramen was introduced in Japan.

1970
Ramen have been a staple in college diets, when Nissan brought them to the United States.

It is believed that noodles originated from China as early as 5000 BC, then spread to other Asian countries. Today, about 40% of the flour consumed in Asia is for Noodle manufacture. In recent years, noodles have also become very popular outside Asia and this popularity is likely to increase.

The relationship between noodles and pasta also goes back more than 700 years. It is believed that in the late 13th century, Marco Polo traveled to China and brought noodles back to Italy to add to his country's repertoire of pasta.
Timeline History of Noodles

Kansui for noodles

2011-10-16T01:15:00.001-07:00

Kansui is an alkaline salt used for processing of noodle. The high pH associated with alkaline salt in the formula promotes fresh noodle darkening during storage through autooxidation of phenolics.

Alkaline noodles contain kansui will raise dough pH to 9-11.5. Numerous combinations of alkaline salt, including sodium and potassium carbonates, bicarbonates and phosphates and sodium hydroxide are used, depending on regional preference.

The concentrations of kansui and the ratio of sodium to potassium carbonate vary.

The alkaline salt composition has a significant effect on noodle color, whereas concentration has a significant impact on noodle texture.

Kansui provides the noodles with distinctive elasticity. Inclusion of alkaline salt in noodles formulas also imparts a characteristics aroma and flavor and a yellow color.

Alkaline salt also toughen noodle dough and affect the pasting characteristics of starch.

Oriental noodles which is consumed in large amounts in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Philippines may be broadly divided in two classes
*The Japanese white salted noodle
*The Cantonese yellow alkaline noodle

The first class is made from wheat flour, water and table salt, whereas the second class, the Cantonese noodle is made by replacing table salt with a mixture of sodium and potassium carbonates, often referred to as ‘kansui’.
Kansui for noodles

Flavor for instant noodle

2011-09-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Instant noodles have become synonymous with convenience foods, and consumers have come to expect a certain consistency in the product, both in flavor and texture.

One of the key components for the success of these instant noodles is the spice seasonings that provide a consistent flavor balance.

Spice seasonings are defined as blends of salt, herbs and/or spices used to enhance or improve the flavor of food.

Momofoku Ando the founder of Nissin, the Top Ramen and the ubiquitous Cup Noodle first invented chicken flavored instant ramen in 1958.

Normally supermarkets stock a large range of instant noodles. Some include a flavor sachet. They can be added to a quick stir fry after cooking as directed in the pack. This is a great way to add variety to people’s diet.

These packets of flavor save the consumer time and effort. They are inexpensive and can make great meals in minutes. The sachet flavor everything from salad dressings to vegetables and the noodles and seasonings can also be put together for great one dish meals.

The great thing about flavored instant noodles is the consumer can go by adding olive oil and herbs combination enhances the flavor instead of hiding it.
Flavor for instant noodle

Ravioli

2011-07-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

Ravioli, cavettelli, cannoli, and many other types of filled pasta are well known and widely offered.

Ravioli are little nuggets of filling surround by a layer of thin pasta. Culturally accepted as Italian, almost every nation in the world has a variation.

One means of classifying these products is as
1. Pieces filled before cooking
2. Pieces filled after cooking
Ravioli is typical of the first class and ziti of the second. Practically all the filled varieties were originally made in the home by hand shaping methods, but specialized equipment is now available for quality production of several of the more popular items.

Ravioli is a pillow shaped piece of pasta formed of two layers of dough surrounding a deposit, of beef meat, mozzarella or vegetable filling.

When making stuffed pasta, think like Italian if the filling is complex in flavor, the sauce should be simple and of the sauces is complex in flavor, stick with a simple filling.

The most common forms of ravioli are rectangular or circular sheets wrapped around a meat or cheeses based filling.

In fact, the word ravioli comes from ‘ravvolgere’ the Italian verb ‘to wrap’. In the last entry ravioli made use of meat left over from festive meals.

Ravioli come in a wide variety of shapes and fillings. Efferent shapes of ravioli can be created by using the different pasta cutters which are available.
Ravioli

Twisted goods

2011-06-12T08:42:00.001-07:00

Spaghetti and vermicelli are sometime sold as ‘biscuits or ‘skeins’, i.e. twisted clumps, which are dried on trays.

These twisted products were formerly made by cutting a handful of vermicelli or spaghetti in 8 or 10 inch length and putting this products in a tray for drying.

In Europe, ‘nidis’ are popular. These noodles arranged in a shape somewhat like a bird’s nest, The noodles are extruded in a cluster and hang down into a hollow metal cylinder.

When the noodle is cut off near the die, the air jet whirls it into desired form, which is then dropped onto a drying tray.
Twisted goods

Noodle in Indonesia

2011-04-13T02:42:00.000-07:00

Noodle are a universal favorite in Indonesia which the Indonesians have enthusiastically adopted from the Chinese.

In Indonesia the noodle generally come dried in packets, like ramen. Both fresh and dried noodles should be blanched in boiling water before cooking to rinse and revive them.

Egg noodles or bakmi in Indonesia made from wheat flour and eggs and yellow in color, these noodles are sold in round ‘cakes,’ which need to be shaken loose before cooking.

In consumer branded products the instant noodle segment is the largest contributor with a capacity of 15 bn packs per year. Consumption of instant noodles in Indonesia increases at a rate of 12.38% per year.

Indomie, Sarimi, SuperMi, and Mie are all leading brand of instant noodles in Indonesia.

Pioneered under the brand name Indomie, even for the numerous other instant noodle brands now available. Indomie is a product of an Indonesian multinational, Indofood Makmur Jaya is sold nationwide in each and every supermarket and neighborhood shop. It is also exported to many Asian countries, European and American destination.

The importance of noodles in Indonesian diet is significant. Currently, an average of 50% of the total wheat flour consumption in Indonesia in the form of noodles.
Noodle in Indonesia

Carbohydrate in Pasta

2011-02-13T18:21:00.000-08:00

Pasta is an excellent source of carbohydrate. As pasta is made from flour it is high in starch which makes it a carbohydrate food.

Human get energy from carbohydrate and pasta is particularly healthy source.

If we eat a large plate of pasta at lunch, most of us will hardly be able to stay awake at 3.30 pm.

The carbohydrates in the past have triggered a rapid release of insulin into bloodstream, which drives blood glucose levels down.

We are sleepy because of a significant drop in brain function that resulted form a diminished supply of blood glucose.

Carbohydrate are made solely of rings of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. The number and structure of the rings determine the type of carbohydrate.

Simple carbohydrates contain one or two rings, and complex carbohydrate contain many. And pasta is a concentrated source of complex carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate in Pasta

Protein in Noodle

2010-08-29T20:04:00.001-07:00

Protein in Noodle
Wheat flour protein content, as in other wheat-based products, has a major influence on mixing and sheeting properties as well as on noodle appearance surface smoothness, cooking time, fat intake (in instant fried noodles), and textural properties.

Qualitative effects of protein on noodle processing and product quality have received less attention by cereal chemist and are less well known than the role of protein content.

Considering the fact that protein content of wheat largely depends on environmental conditions while protein quality is mostly determined by genotype background and that wheat flour with a narrow range of protein content is used by manufacturers for the production of the specific types of noodles, protein quality is what wheat breeders pay attention to for the development of what gives rose to variations in processing and product quality of noodles.

However, comparatively little is known about the protein quality of wheat desirable for making noodles, nor has a guideline for selecting and developing noodle wheat varies been established.

In addition to protein content, the protein quality of flour, as expressed by sodium dodecyl sulfate sedimentation volume, mixograph subunits score, has a large influence on processing and textural properties of Asian noodle.

Cooking Quality of Pasta

2010-07-21T02:42:00.000-07:00

Cooking Quality of Pasta
Pasta products, as sold, could be described as ‘uncooked’, ‘partially cooked’, or fully cooked’, depending on the degree of which the protein is denatured and the starch gelatinized.

Traditionally, pasta products are prepared in an uncooked state, because dry, uncooked pasta can be stored at room temperature for long period while maintaining its highly glutinous properties.

Particle size of semolina is an important characteristics: it is recommended that at least 90% of the particles should fall between 150 um and 340 um in size.

Particles larger than 340 um impeded the activity of enzymes in the dough. Good quality of the pasta may be defined as the ability of the proteins to form an insoluble network capable of entrapping swollen and gelatinized starch granules, and is thus related to the composition of the protein.

In uncooked pasta, the protein is largely undenatured, and most of the starch is ungelatinized. The processing conditions of dough moisture content an extrusion temperature were carefully controlled to prevent protein denaturation and starch gelatinization.
Cooking Quality of Pasta

Spaghetti Processing

2010-06-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Spaghetti Processing
Before the 1800s, pasta was made by hand. The first mechanical devices for pasta manufacturing were invented in the 1800s.

Around 1850, the first hand-operated pasta press was built.

By early 1900s, mixers, kneaders, hydraulic piston type extrusion presses and drying cabinets were available for batch manufacturing of pasta.

In 1933, the first continuous single screw using low temperature drying profiles that mimicked open air drying conditions typical of the region around Naples, Italy.

It required 18 to 20 hours to dry pasta when using a low temperature drying profile. High temperature drying (60 to 80 degree C) of pasta was introduced in 1974 and ultra high temperature (80 to 100 degree C) drying was introduced in the late 1980s.

Drying at high or ultrahigh temperatures has reduced drying time of long goods (e.g., spaghetti) to about 10 and 6 hours, respectively.

Today, pasta manufacturing is totally automated with pasta presses capable of producing spaghetti at 3,5000 kg/h and macaroni at 8,000 kg/h.
Spaghetti Processing

Lipids role in Determining Spaghetti Cooking Quality

2010-05-14T01:24:00.000-07:00

Lipids role in Determining Spaghetti Cooking Quality
Lipids, although a minor constituent of pasts, appear to influence the physical properties of cooked spaghetti.

In one study on the changes in lipids during processing of pasta products, found that lipids were less emendable to extraction in the pasta product than semolina.

Such result suggested that lipids undergo chemical changes and/or complexation as a result of the mechanical action of the screw on the semolina dough during extrusion.

Subsequently there was a report that about 90% of the free lipids in semolina became bound during processing and more particularly, during the drying process.

Another study indicated that the lipids found to exert marked influence on spaghetti cooking quality were monoglycerides.

They not only improved tolerance to overcooking but also reduced surface stickiness. The ability of monoglycerides to form water insoluble complexes with amylase is thought to result in this reduced stickiness.

Unsaturated monoglycerides, for example, glycerol monolinolein and glycerol monoolein, are more effective in forming complexes with amylose at lower temperature (30-40 degree C) than at higher temperature (60 degree C).

Monoglycerides with saturated fatty acids, on the other hand, are very effective in complexing amylose in amylose solution at the higher temperature of 60 degree C.

Therefore, of complex formation can be assumed to follow similar temperature dependence in dough, the temperature at which dough development occurs during processing may be the deciding factor as to the effect of various lipids on the coking quality of pasta.
Lipids role in Determining Spaghetti Cooking Quality

Bologna Style

2010-04-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

Bologna Style
Many manufacturer especially those catering principally to the Italian trade make what is called “Bologna style.”

This category of products includes such fancy shapes as bow ties.

These items are formed out of a dough sheet made either continuously or by the batch process.

In the latter case, the dough strip may be wound around a wooden roller for convenient storage and handling prior to feeding into the forming machine.

The press folder is equipped with the devices for sheeting to thickness punching and stamping the shapes and collection of scrap.
Bologna Style

History of Noodles II

2010-03-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

History of Noodles II
The art of noodlemaking developed further in the Tang dynasty (618-907) AD) when the noodles were first cut into long strips.

The age-old custom od eating noodles to signify long life is believed to have originated in this era.
During the period of the Song Dynasty (960-1179 AD) the variety of different styles of noodles gradually increased local tastes were developed and a great variety of popular noodles dishes inclusion of meat and vegetables came into being.

The technique of making dried noodles was learned in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD) and in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) noodles were given the name of mian, and since then have continued until the present.

With increased travel and trade and widespread Chinese migration and emigration, noodles were taken across the country and gradually gained popularity in other countries.

Noodles spread from China to Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Burma and Vietnam with the many Chinese traders, seafarers and emigrants who moved into these areas.

The similarities of some of the generic words for noodles (mian, mein or mi – China. men – Japan, mie (Indonesia, and mee – Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore), support this common origin.

In Japan. Udon noodle were created in the 15th century and most of the types of noodles today were available by the 16th century.
History of Noodles II

History of Noodles I

2010-03-17T16:23:00.001-07:00

History of Noodles I
Noodles are strips or strands cut from a sheet of dough made of flour, water and either common salt or a mixture of alkaline salts.

They are one of the main staple foods consumed in East and Southeast Asian countries, representing up to 40% of total flour consumption.

It is believed that noodles originated in the north of China as early as 5000 BC, but their essential modern day form has developed over the last 2000 years.

Present day noodles were a unique contribution by the Han Dynasty (206 B to 220 AD) to Chinese culinary art.

The development of noodle foods in the Han period seemingly can be explained by the fact that techniques for large scale flour milling were introduced to China from the West during the latter part of the earlier Han Dynasty as a result of the Han expansion.

Han ingenuity in experimenting with such common food materials, combined with the willingness to incorporate technology from other cultures, led to the emergence of an eventually dominant new product in Chinese culinary history.

The writer Shu Hsi in the Western Jin Dynasty (late third and early fourth centuries) noted that the various kinds of noodles “were mainly the invention of the common people, whole some of the cooking methods come from foreign lands.”
History of Noodles I

Noodle Kugel

2010-02-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Noodle Kugel
During the progressive era, many Jewish people immigrated to the United States from Europe. Kugel comes from German word that has come to mean a baked casserole or pudding.

In Yiddish kugel means and refers generically to dishes made variously with noodles, bread, rice and potatoes.

Noodle kugel is a type of pudding made with noodles that is served with the main course or as dessert. Quite often, it is made with raisins or apples.

In Jewish-American families with roots in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Romania, no Jewish meal – from brunch to midnight snack to wedding banquet – is complete without a big heavy painful of noodle kugel.

In practice, though, they are often served alongside meat dishes, even though they are sweet. Certain other Eastern Europe kugels, like Czech Noodle and Apple Soufflé and Hungarian Cheese-Noodle Dessert are reserved exclusively for dessert.

In keeping with the kosher separation of meat and diary products there are dairy and nondairy kugels.

When served with meat dishes, they’re made with eggs, chicken or goose fat (not butter), sugar and raisins and candied fruit or fresh fruits, such as apples and pears.

Dairy versions include butter, cottage cheese and/or sour cream.
Noodle Kugel

What is rice noodles

2010-02-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

What is rice noodles
In China, rice noodle is called mi fen and in Japan, harusame. There is some difference between the two. Mi fen is made from rice only; harusame may be made from mung bean or rice or a mixture of these.

In China, Japan, and other Asiatic countries, rice noodles are consumed in the form of soups or snack foods.

The rice noodle soups are usually prepared from mi fen, water, meat, or chicken, green vegetables, soy sauce and fresh Chinese onion for an attractive aroma.

The product is highly attractive in sensory quality because of the special texture aroma and taste.

In Taiwan, mi fen has been manufactured from glutinous rice. The product can be easily reconstituted in hot water with the addition of some meat or vegetables before serving.

The raw material for making quick coking mi fen is nonglutinous rice flour and water. The product is highly elastic and sticky after cooking with water. The use nonglutinous rice enables easy extrusion of the dough.

The conventional processing method limited to sun drying. There are a few exceptions using using drying or infrared drying methods. The products made by sun drying are less desirable than those made by hot air drying and infrared light drying.
What is rice noodles

Making Noodles

2010-01-25T02:09:00.000-08:00

Making Noodles
Three significant classes of noodles:
- Japanese form of white salted noodles (udon)
- Cantonese style yellow alkaline noodles
- Instant noodles

Many other regional or local types of noodles can be shown to be variants of these with varying formulation, wheat quality demands, and expected texture and color outcomes.

In particular, salted noodles other than Japanese udon, such as in China, usually have a very different texture and require wheat flour with stronger dough and possibly lower swelling starch.

Starch and protein are the keys to wheat flour quality for noodles.

Noodles generally contain salt (NaCl) and/or an alkaline additive (often a mixture of sodium and potassium carbonate).

The interaction of starch and protein with these components is important.

Understanding how to measure and assess starch and protein quality is essential for any applied research in noodles.

China is far biggest producer and consumer of wheat in the world. China is also increasingly becoming a major importer of wheat.

In Asia, as disposable incomes rise, there is an increase in wheat consumption at the expense of diminishing rice consumption.

Whatever the outcome of China’s efforts to increase production, global trade in wheat is set to increase and prices may be expected to rise in the medium to long term.

Many tropical countries are also large consumers of wheat products but have essentially no domestic production, such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Although there is significant wheat production in Japan, the agricultural sector is not competitive on price, and Japan has long been a major wheat importer.

Thus, Asia seems certain to dominate a fast increasing global trade in wheat well into the future.

Major exporters such as the United States, Canada, and Australia will be exporting into increasingly quality conscious markets.

Scientists and technologists of these countries are fully aware of this significant shift in the market development and realize that quality selection will increasingly be focused on Asian end uses such as noodles and steamed bread.
Making Noodles

Manufacture of Rice based Asian Noodles

2010-01-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

Manufacture of Rice based Asian Noodles
For decades there have been products on the market that are made from materials other than wheat or rice, but are included in the Asian (oriental) noodle category.

One of the most fascinating Asian (oriental) noodles made from materials other than wheat or rice are mung bean threads, sometimes called cellophane or transparent noodles by Westerners.

This product has the unique property of being transparent like clear cellophane after it is cooked.

The best mung bean threads can stay in their original shape and remain intact for about 2 days after being cooked and kept in the soup.

This is because of their unique starch gelling properties, which also provide very good al dente properties.

True (pure) mung bean threads are made from mung bean only. However, the products today on the market may contain mung bean and other starch materials like broad beans and other starches.

The bottlenecks of making true mung beans threads include the intensive labor required and liquid waste disposal.

The liquid waste is fairly rich in nutrients as it contains all the vitamins, minerals and proteins in the mung bean.

In the past, this waste was used as animal feed.

Attempts have also been made to recover the protein from this liquid waste.

Because of these problems, it is understandable that material other than mung beans, improvements in technology are being considered.

Korean sweet potato vermicelli (“dang myun”) is a product similar to mung bean threads with transparency after it is cooked.

However, the vermicelli is colorless, but kind of light brownish green.

It also has very good al dente properties. Japanese “harusame” is also a similar starch noodle product as it is made also made from starches from potato, sweet potato, rice or mung bean.
Manufacture of Rice based Asian Noodles

Die Cleaning and Storage

2009-12-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

Die Cleaning and Storage
Some dies can be used to make more than one pasta product, but most are suitable for only a single shape.

This means that all pasta manufacturers must keep several dies on hand for use on a much smaller number of extruders.

It is not unusual to routinely make as many as 20 or 30 different pasta varieties in a plant that has only 2 to 3 large presses.

Consequently, the conditions or cleaning and storing dies must given careful attention.

Dies cleaning is one of the most sanitary operations in the pasta plant.

A relatively dry dough is forced into the holes in the die under pressure of approximately 1,000 psi.

When the press is shut down, the die cavity remains filled with a hard impacted material that is very difficult to remove.

Allowing the dough to dry in the small channels will create a blockage which could require drastic action to dislodge.

These considerations dictate the prompt and complete removal of all particles of dough from the doe as soon as production with that die is halted.

Cleaning of the die poses several problems. Because of the restricted access only a small part of the dough remaining in the doe is exposed to any cleaning solution or utensil that might be used.

Use of hard probes or wire brushes must be avoided because they can easily damage the dies.

The usual procedure is to remove the die from the press as soon as possible after production is interrupted and place it in a bath containing water that is continually moving and kept fresh.
Die Cleaning and Storage

Wheat Asian Noodles

2009-11-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

Wheat Asian Noodles
Noodles represent a dominant usage of wheat flour in much of Asia.

Many Asian countries, including China, are rapidly growing wheat importers.

Exporting nations are increasingly interested in the quality requirements for wheat flour destined for use in noodles.

Foods scientists are interested in developing new, high quality, convenient forms of noodles, often developed from traditional formulations and processing methods.

A basic understanding of noodles requires an overview of their diversity, an in depth look at the scientific basis for quality in a few key types an some guidelines for testing methods and criteria that may aid in product development.

There are a few key points that should be emphasized regarding Asian noodles.

Asian wheat noodles are made from common wheat flour (hexaploid wheat Triticum aestivum, bread wheat), not from the durum wheat flour used for European type pasta.

Asian noodles are sheeted and cut from slow moisture dough, not extruded like European pasta.

In Asian noodles the key criteria for quality are texture and color.

Textural requirements are specific for different types of noodles and according to regional preferences.

Discoloration of noodles toward gray is a major negative.

In many cases the right color – the right white or yellow is essential.

The basic types of wheat or wheat composite noodles represent for main types:
*White salted, consisting of flour, water, and common salt and typified by the Japanese udon noodles

*Yellow alkaline noodles, consisting of flour, water and alkali and typified by Cantonese yellow noodles.

*Composite flour noodles where wheat flour is mixed with other starch based material such as buckwheat flour and typified by the Japanese soba noodles

*Instant noodles, where noodle is steamed (for starch gelatinization, i.e. cooking) and fried (for drying) and can be rapidly rehydrated before consumption, typified by the common instant ramen packaged noodles.

Starch noodles are prepared by mixing purified starch with some pre-gelatinized starch as a binder, mixing to a “dough” and extruding into boiling water.
Wheat Asian Noodles

Processing of Yellow Alkaline Noodles

2009-10-24T23:39:00.001-07:00

Processing of Yellow Alkaline Noodles
Yellow alkaline noodles are essentially made from flour (100 parts), water (32 – 35 parts), and a solution of alkaline salts known as kansui or lye water (1 part).

These salts are usually a mixture of sodium and potassium carbonates (typically 9:1) or sodium hydroxide in some cases.

The alkaline salts confer a unique flavor and texture to the noodles and are responsible to the noodles are responsible for imparting the typical yellow color by detaching the flavones from starch and allowing their natural color to manifest.

Flours from hard wheat, with protein content in the range of 10-12%, with mellow gluten quality, is recommended for fresh alkaline noodle.

The desired textural characteristics are a bright, even light yellow appearance; free of any darkening or discoloration; a firm clean bite; a chewy and elastic texture with some degree of springiness; and a satisfactory al dente reaction on biting.

The basic procedure for making alkaline noodles is similar to that of white salted noodles, and lab scale method is described here below:

The ingredients (300 g flour, 96 ml water, Na2CO3 - 2.7 g and K2CO3 -0.3 g) are mixed in a mixer for 1 min at slow speed, 1 min at fast speed m and then for 3 min at slow speed.

The crumbly dough is sheeted between steel rollers, 2.75 mm apart, in a Ohtake noodle machine.

The dough sheet is folded and passed between the rollers twice and then allowed to lie at rest for 30 min in a plastic bag.

The single sheet of dough is then passed between the rollers, with the clearance successively reduced to 2.5, 2.0 and 1.5 mm.

After standing for 3 h at 25 degree C, the noodles are placed in wire mesh and cooled in boiling water until the uncooked core has just disappeared ( about 5 min); the cooked noodles are used for sensory testing.
Processing of Yellow Alkaline Noodles