JP7611663B2 - Manufacturing method of instant noodles - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for producing instant noodles.

Instant noodles are not only excellent in long-term storage but are also highly convenient foods that can be eaten with simple cooking. Instant noodles are generally produced by gelatinizing raw noodles, then frying them in oil or drying them with hot air, microwave heating, freeze-drying, or other methods, and are restored to a ready-to-eat state by pouring hot water over them and leaving them to stand for a few minutes.

In emergencies and other times when hot water is unavailable, it is possible to reconstitute instant noodles with room temperature water (such as tap water). However, when conventional, typical instant noodles are reconstituted with room temperature water, not only does it take more than 10 minutes for them to become edible, but they also tend to be difficult to separate and the reconstitution is prone to be uneven. Furthermore, when reconstituting with water, even if sufficient time is spent reconstituting the noodles, the texture of the reconstituted noodles decreases as they remain hard and lack smoothness, presenting major issues unique to water reconstitution.

Technologies have been proposed to improve the reconstitution of instant noodles. Patent Document 1 describes that fried instant noodles made from a noodle dough obtained by blending 0.3 to 5 parts by mass of xanthan gum with 100 parts by mass of a cereal flour raw material containing 60 to 95 parts by mass of wheat flour as the main component and 5 to 40 parts by mass of starch are sufficiently reconstituted even in hot water at a temperature lower than that of boiling water, have a good texture such as viscoelasticity, and are excellent in terms of loosening when eaten. Patent Document 2 describes that instant noodles containing starch of roots or tubers containing at least 95% by weight of amylopectin on a dry matter basis, or derivatives thereof, can be reconstituted in water at a lower temperature or in a shorter time. Patent Document 3 describes water-reconstituted dried noodles that can be eaten with a good texture simply by immersing them in water at room temperature, characterized in that the degree of gelatinization of the starch is in the range of 70% to 99%. Patent Document 4 describes a method for producing instant noodles that can be easily eaten by simply pouring water and have an excellent texture after reconstitution, which is characterized by adding an aqueous solution of 0.5-5% (w/w) salt to a composition of gelatinized wheat starch with a degree of gelatinization of 80% or more and a swelling power of 10 or more, or a composition in which 2-15% (w/w) of this is replaced with isolated protein, so that the water content is 30-50% (w/w), and then making noodles and drying them. Patent Document 5 describes that the problem of deterioration in reconstitution, texture, and flavor in non-fried instant noodles can be solved by adding active gluten to at least one of etherified starches selected from hydroxyethyl starch, hydroxypropyl starch, and carboxymethyl starch, each having a degree of substitution (D.S.) of 0.005-0.3, or esterified starches selected from starch acetate, starch succinate, starch octenyl succinate, and starch maleate.

JP 2019-170348 A Special Publication No. 2008-531042 JP 2016-106630 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-5754 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-55156

The present invention provides instant noodles that can be reconstituted in a short time using water at room temperature or below and have a good texture.

The inventors have discovered that by obtaining raw noodle strands with an adjusted thickness from a raw material flour containing wheat flour and one or more types of starch selected from etherified starch and acetylated starch in predetermined amounts, and then producing instant noodles from the raw noodle strands, it is possible to produce instant noodles that can be reconstituted in a short time using water at or below room temperature and that have a good texture.

Therefore, the present invention provides a method for producing instant noodles for reconstitution with water, comprising the steps of:
The method comprises preparing raw noodle strings having a thickness of 0.93 mm or less from a raw material flour containing wheat flour and one or more types selected from etherified starch and acetylated starch,
the mass ratio of the wheat flour to the one or more selected from the etherified starch and the acetylated starch in the raw material flour is 85:15 to 5:95;
The raw material flour contains the wheat flour and one or more types selected from the etherified starch and the acetylated starch in a total amount of 80% by mass or more.
A method is provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide instant noodles that are easy to break apart, can be restored to a state suitable for eating in a short time, and have a good texture, even when reconstituted using water at room temperature or below.

The instant noodles of the present invention are produced by preparing raw noodle strings from a raw material flour containing wheat flour and one or more types selected from etherified starch and acetylated starch, and then gelatinizing the obtained raw noodle strings and frying or drying them according to the usual production procedures for instant noodles.

Types of instant noodles produced by the present invention include, but are not limited to, Chinese noodles, udon, Japanese soba, pasta, and other noodle strings.

The wheat flour contained in the raw material flour of the instant noodles of the present invention may be any flour that is generally used in the production of noodles, such as strong flour, semi-strong flour, medium flour, weak flour, durum flour, and whole wheat flour. These wheat flours may be used alone or in combination of two or more kinds. Preferably, medium flour is used as the main component.

Examples of etherified starch include hydroxypropylated starch and carboxymethylated starch. Examples of acetylated starch include starch acetate. The etherified starch and acetylated starch may be cross-linked, and may include, for example, hydroxypropylated phosphorus cross-linked starch, acetylated adipate cross-linked starch, acetylated phosphate cross-linked starch, and the like. The raw starch for the etherified starch and acetylated starch is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include potato starch, tapioca starch, wheat starch, corn starch, rice starch, and the like. Among these, potato starch and tapioca starch are preferred, and potato starch is more preferred. Preferably, the etherified starch and acetylated starch do not include high amylopectin starch. High amylopectin starch refers to starch that contains 95% or more amylopectin by mass, such as waxy starch, amylopectin potato starch, and amylopectin tapioca starch. On the other hand, the amylopectin content of regular potato starch and tapioca starch is about 80% by mass.

The etherified starch and acetylated starch contained in the raw material flour of the instant noodles of the present invention may be one or more selected from the etherified starch and acetylated starch prepared from any of the raw material starches described above. For example, the etherified starch used in the present invention may be etherified starch prepared from the same type of raw material starch, or a combination of etherified starch prepared from different types of raw material starch. The acetylated starch used in the present invention may be acetylated starch prepared from the same type of raw material starch, or a combination of acetylated starch prepared from different types of raw material starch. Etherified starch and acetylated starch prepared from the same type or different types of raw material starch can also be combined.

Preferably, the raw material flour contains a total of 80% by mass or more of the wheat flour and one or more types selected from the etherified starch and acetylated starch. The mass ratio of the wheat flour to the one or more types selected from the etherified starch and acetylated starch in the raw material flour may be (wheat flour):(total amount of etherified starch and acetylated starch)=85:15 to 5:95, and is preferably 80:20 to 10:90. If the content of etherified starch and acetylated starch is too low, the obtained instant noodles will take a long time to reconstitute when reconstituted in water at room temperature or below, and the texture of the reconstituted noodles will be deteriorated. On the other hand, if the content of wheat flour is too low, this may have an adverse effect on the workability during noodle production and the texture of the noodles.

Preferably, the raw flour contains etherified starch. Preferably, the etherified starch is etherified potato starch, etherified tapioca starch, or a combination thereof, more preferably etherified potato starch. Preferably, in the raw flour, the total content of the wheat flour and the etherified starch is 80% by mass or more, and the mass ratio of the wheat flour to the etherified starch is preferably (wheat flour):(etherified starch)=85:15 to 5:95, more preferably 80:20 to 10:90.

The raw material flour used in the present invention may further contain other materials conventionally used in the manufacture of noodles, in addition to the above-mentioned wheat flour, etherified starch, and acetylated starch. Examples of such other materials include, but are not limited to, cereal flours other than wheat flour; starches including unprocessed starches and processed starches other than etherified starch and acetylated starch; proteins such as gluten, soy protein, milk protein, egg yolk powder, egg white powder, whole egg powder, and skim milk powder; fats and oils such as animal and vegetable oils, emulsified fats and oils, and shortening; salt; kansui; sugars; sweeteners; calcined calcium; dietary fiber; spices; seasonings; vitamins, minerals, and nutritional enhancers; colorants; flavorings; dextrin (including resistant to digestion); leavening agents; emulsifiers; thickeners; water retention agents; preservatives; enzymes; pH adjusters; and oxidation-reducing agents. These other materials can be used alone or in combination of two or more. Preferably, the raw material flour used in the present invention contains a component that improves the loosening properties of noodles. Examples of such components that improve the loosening properties include egg white, alginic acid esters, alginic acid, alginates, emulsifiers, emulsified oils and fats, vegetable oils and fats, soybean hydrolysates, and dietary fiber. Furthermore, gluten can be added to the raw material flour as necessary to improve the noodle production properties and texture of the noodles. On the other hand, if the raw material flour contains guar gum and xanthan gum, the reconstitution properties of instant noodles decrease when the noodles are reconstituted in water at room temperature or below, which is not preferred. Therefore, the raw material flour used in the present invention may contain a thickener, but preferably does not contain guar gum or xanthan gum. Also preferably, the starches contained in the raw material flour do not contain high amylopectin starch. Also preferably, the raw material flour may contain pregelatinized starch, but the above-mentioned wheat flour, etherified starch, and acetylated starch contained in the raw material flour are preferably not pregelatinized. The total content of such other ingredients in the raw material flour used in the present invention is preferably 0 to 20% by mass. The amount of each of the other ingredients in the raw material flour can be determined appropriately depending on the type of noodles desired.

In the method for producing instant noodles according to the present invention, raw noodle strands are prepared from the raw material flour described above. For example, a noodle dough can be prepared by adding water to the raw material flour and kneading it in a conventional manner, and then noodle strands can be prepared from the noodle dough. The water used to prepare the noodle dough can be kneading water normally used in the production of noodle dough, such as water, salt water, or kansui. Conventional means can be used to prepare noodle strands from the noodle dough. For example, the noodle dough can be rolled with a noodle-making roll to obtain a noodle band, which is then cut with a cutting blade or the like to obtain noodle strands, or the noodle dough can be extruded to obtain noodle strands.

The thickness of the obtained raw noodle strings is adjusted to 0.93 mm or less, preferably 0.9 mm or less, and more preferably 0.8 mm or less. In this specification, the thickness of the noodle string refers to the shortest width of the cross section of the noodle string (the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the noodle string). Preferably, the raw noodle strings obtained by the present invention have a cross-sectional area of 2.8 ^mm2 or less, preferably 1.5 ^mm2 or less, and more preferably 1.2 ^mm2 or less.

In the instant noodles manufacturing method according to the present invention, the obtained raw noodle strings are gelatinized by steaming or the like. The obtained gelatinized noodle strings are fried in oil according to a conventional method to produce fried instant noodles. Meanwhile, the obtained gelatinized noodle strings are dried by a conventional method such as hot air, microwave heating, or freeze-drying to produce non-fried instant noodles. Preferably, the instant noodles manufactured according to the present invention are fried instant noodles. For example, fried instant noodles can be manufactured by packing the gelatinized noodle strings into a mold for each serving and frying them at 140 to 150°C for 1 to 3 minutes. Note that the noodle strings expand or partially expand due to this frying process, so the thickness of the obtained fried instant noodles is greater than that of the raw noodle strings. It is preferable that the noodle strings of the fried instant noodles manufactured according to the present invention have an average thickness of 1.35 mm or less.

The instant noodles provided by the present invention can be reconstituted with water, that is, they can be reconstituted to be edible by contacting (preferably immersing) them in water at room temperature or below. The temperature of the water for reconstituting the noodles is 0°C or higher and preferably 40°C or lower, more preferably 30°C or lower, and even more preferably 10 to 30°C. For example, when the water temperature is 20°C, the contact time with water for reconstituting the noodles is preferably 12 minutes or less, more preferably 10 minutes or less, and even more preferably 5 minutes or less. The contact time with water can be adjusted depending on the temperature of the water used.

The instant noodles provided by the present invention can of course be reconstituted with hotter water, for example, water at a temperature in the range of from above 40°C to the boiling point. However, the instant noodles of the present invention can be easily loosened and reconstituted to be edible in a short time without using hot water or warm water for reconstitution as in the past, and have a satisfactory texture in terms of hardness and smoothness. In this way, the instant noodles of the present invention are highly convenient in that there is no need to prepare hot water or warm water for eating, and can be deliciously eaten even in environments where hot water or warm water is difficult to obtain, such as during disasters. Therefore, the instant noodles of the present invention are preferably used as instant noodles for reconstitution with water, that is, instant noodles to be reconstituted and eaten by contacting them with water at or below room temperature.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

〔material〕
Wheat flour: Menhachishu (Nissin Flour Milling, medium-strength flour)
Etherified (hydroxypropylated) potato starch: Okra (Matsutani Chemicals)
Acetylated (acetic acid) potato starch: Tanpopo (Matsutani Chemicals)
Oxidized potato starch: Stabilose 1000 (Matsutani Chemicals)

〔method〕
1) Production of fried instant noodles A solution prepared by previously dissolving 3 parts by mass of salt and 0.2 parts by mass of kansui ("Aka Kansui", manufactured by Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd.) in 30 to 40 parts by mass of water was added to the raw material flour, and the mixture was mixed in a noodle-making mixer (high speed 3 minutes, then low speed 6 minutes) to produce noodle dough. The noodle dough was rolled out using a noodle-making roll to form a noodle band of a specified thickness, which was then cut out using a cutting blade (#19 square) to prepare raw noodle strands. The obtained raw noodle strands were steamed for 3 minutes (steam pressure 3 to 8 kPa), then divided into individual portions and fried (140°C, 2 minutes) to produce fried instant noodles (Chinese noodles). When the thickness of the noodle strings of the produced fried instant noodles was measured, it was found to have expanded by approximately 1.3 to 1.5 times (when the thickness of the raw noodles was 0.75 mm, the average thickness of the noodles after frying was 0.95 mm, when the thickness of the raw noodles was 0.9 mm, the average thickness of the noodles after frying was 1.34 mm, and when the thickness of the raw noodles was 1.0 mm, the average thickness of the noodles after frying was 1.47 mm).

2) Evaluation The instant noodles produced (42 g) were placed in a container, and 400 mL of water at 20° C. was added to reconstitute them. Ten trained panelists evaluated the eating condition of the noodles (loosening and reconstitution) every 30 seconds after the addition of water. The time at which 9 or more out of the 10 panelists judged the noodles to be edible was determined as the reconstitution time. In addition, the time at which 9 or more out of the 10 panelists judged the instant noodles to have loosened and to be able to pick up the noodles with chopsticks was determined as the loosening time. In addition, the texture of the noodles when they were judged to be edible was evaluated according to the following criteria, and the average score of the 10 panelists was calculated.
<Texture evaluation criteria>
5 points: Moderately hard and smooth 4 points: Slightly moderately hard and smooth 3 points: Hard, but also somewhat smooth 2 points: Slightly hard and not smooth 1 point: Very hard and not smooth

[Test Example 1. Effect of raw material powder composition]
Fried instant Chinese noodles were produced and evaluated according to the above method by changing the blending amounts of wheat flour and starch in the raw material flour as shown in Table 1. The evaluation results are shown in Table 1.

[Test Example 2. Effect of noodle thickness]
Fried instant Chinese noodles were produced and evaluated according to the above method while changing the thickness of the raw noodle strings as shown in Table 2. The evaluation results are shown in Table 2. Table 2 also lists the results of Production Example 1-2.

[Test Example 3. Effect of Water Temperature]
Fried instant Chinese noodles were produced and evaluated according to the above method using the ingredients shown in Table 3. However, ice water (water temperature 4° C.) was used for reconstituting the noodles. The evaluation results are shown in Table 3.

Claims (5)

A method for producing instant noodles for reconstitution, comprising the steps of:
The method comprises preparing raw noodle strings having a thickness of 0.93 mm or less from a raw material flour containing wheat flour and etherified starch ,
a mass ratio of the wheat flour to the etherified starch in the raw material flour is 85:15 to 5:95;
the raw material flour contains the wheat flour and the etherified starch in a total amount of 80 mass% or more,
The raw material flour does not contain guar gum or xanthan gum.
method. The method according to claim 1, wherein the instant noodles for reconstitution with water are instant noodles for reconstitution with water at 30°C or less. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the instant noodles are fried instant noodles. The method according to claim 3, wherein the fried instant noodles are noodle strings having a thickness of 1.35 mm or less. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the etherified starch is an etherified potato starch .