GB1587977A - Method of making instantly cookable dry noodles - Google Patents

Description

(54) METHOD OF MAKING INSTANTLY COOKABLE DRY NOODLES (71) We, Togo SUISAN KAISHA, LIMITED, a Japanese corporation, of 13-40, 2-chome, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a method of making instantly cookable dry noodles, and more particularly, to a method of making such noodles which does not involve the step of frying the noodle mass in oil.

Dry noodles, otherwise known as "instantcup-noodle food" has been widely marketed for a number of years. This food consists of an instantly cookable dry noodle mass and seasoning powders contained in a foamed polymer cup. When an appropriate amount of boiling water is poured into the foamed polymer cup, the contents are fully cooked into the immediately edible form simply by being allowed to stand for a few minutes.

The conventional process for making such an instantly cookable dry noodle mass comprises mixing wheat flour, as the main component, with additives such as table salt, vegetable oil and a viscosity builder, together with a suitable amount of water to provide an initial mixture, kneading the mixture, preparing strips of dough from the kneaded mixture, shaping the dough strips into a noodle-like form so as to obtain what is referred to herein as "a soft precursory noodle mass", and finally frying the soft precursory noodle mass in oil. The oil-frying step converts the starchy ingredients of the mixture into ee-type starch and the soft precursory noodle mass is simultaneously rapidly dried to a solid product.

Recently, it has been proposed to provide a different type of noodle food affording a different taste from that which has been prepared by the above-mentioned steps by replacing the oil-frying process by a steaming and hot air-drying process. This steaming and hot air-drying process (the new process) yields a noodle food having a plain and delicate taste which is unlike that of the conventional oil-fried product. However, the new process has not yet been applied in practice to the manufacture of a dry mass having a thickness of more than 3cm. The reason is that unless dried at as low a temperature as about 60"C for several hours, a soft noodle mass thicker than 3 cm does not give the delicate taste expected or the necessary dryness. Such a long drying period also reduces the productivity of the dry process so that manufacturing plant for carrying it out has to be enlarged leading to higher production costs. For these reasons, dry noodle food made by the new process is not commercially competitive with dry noodle foodproduced by the conventional oil-frying process. In addition, the dry noodle food made by the new process takes more than twice as long a time to be cooked with boiling water as the conventional oil-fried product which is a substantial disadvantage in practice.

We have now developed a method of making instantly cookable dry noodles which does not require the long drying times of the new process and which gives a product which can be cooked in an acceptably short time with boling water.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of making instantly cookable dry noodles, which comprises steaming a soft precursory noodle mass (as defined above) for 1 to 3 minutes to convert the starchy ingredients into a-type, starch, partially drying the steamed soft precursory noodle mass with hot air at about 100"C to reduce the water content of the mass to 15 to 30% by weight, and exposing the partially dried noodle mass for 2 to 5 minutes to electromagnetic microwaves having a frequency of about 2450 MRz in an atmosphere heated to a temperature of from 70" to 1000C, and, optionally, further drying the noodle mass for up to 5 minutes with hot air at about 100"C.

For the better understanding of the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which each of the Figures is a photomicrograph at a mag nification of 300 x showing the structure of a dry noodle.

Figures 1 and 2 are photomicrographs of a dry noodle obtained by the method of this invention Figure 3 is a photomicropraph of a dry noodle which has been produced simply by the new process, that is by steaming and hot air-drying without irradiating with electromagnetic microwaves; and Figure 4 is a photomicrograph of a dry noodle prepared by the conventional oilfrying process.

The soft precursory noodle mass is prepared in the same way as in the conventional oil-frying process.

The microwave irradiation stage of the process according to the invention causes the temperature of lithe partially dried noodle mass to rise rapidly regardless of its thickness. The remaining water content of the noodles is thereby evoporated to give rise to a large number of tiny cavities in the structure of the dried noodle and the water content thereof is reduced to 10 to 13% by weight.

The mircowave irradiation is carried out in an atmosphere heated to a temperature of from 70" to 100"C in order to increase the rate at which the remaining water is diffused through the partially dried noodle.

When subjected to microwave irradiation, food articles generally rise in temperature as is well known. Substances having a large dielectric loss are preferentially heated not only at the surface, but also in their interiors. Since water has a larger dielectric loss than starchy ingredients and oils, the remaining water in the partially dried noodle is rapidly heated and vaporised. The combination of this heating and the use of an atmosphere heated to a temperature of 70" to 100do, causes the remaining water vapor in the noodle to be diffused at a high rate which, in turn, causes a large number of tiny cavities to be formed in the noodle and ,in consequence, the noodle mass is dried more quickly. If a temperature higher than 100"C is used during the microwave irradiation, agglutination occurs at the surface of the noodle and obstructs its natural drying.

The structure of the instantly cookable dry noodle obtained contains, as already stated, a large number of tiny cavities which preferably have a pore diameter of from 3 to 10 microns. Products ,having cavities with pore diameters greater or smaller than the limits of this range do not have the optimum flavour and cannot be so quickly cooked with boiling water.

Referring now to the drawings, Figures 1 and 2 show the structure of dry noodles obtained by the process described in the following Examples 1 and 2. Figure 3 shows the structure of a dry noodle prepared by drying for 60 minutes with hot air at 85"C without microwave irradiation. Figure 4 shows the structure of a dry noodle produced by the conventional oil-frying process. Large black spots in the photomicrographs denote large diameter bubble holes generated by water vapor evolved during hot-air drying.

The method of this invention has the advantages that a noodle mass can be dried in a far shorter time than the similar products prepared by the known steaming and hot air-drying process and the dry noodle food produced by the method of the invention can be cooked in substantially the same length of time, namely in about 3 to 5 minutes, as the product of the conventional oil-frying process.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, the following examples are given by way of illustration: Example I 500g of wheat four, 15g of table salt, 50g of starch, 2.5g of natural gum, 2.5g of viscosity builder, 0.8cc of corn oil and 200g of water were mixed and then by kneaded. A soft precursory noodle mass was prepared from the kneaded dough by the conventional process. The noodle mass was steamed for 1.5 minutes to convert the starchy ingredients into a-type starch. The steamed noodle mass was partially dried with hot air at about 100"C until the water content thereof was reduced to about 15% by weight. The partially dried noodle mass was intermittently irradiated for a total of about 3 minutes with electromagnetic microwaves having a frequency of 2450 MHz in an atmosphere heated at about 80"C. The irradiated noodle mass was finally dried for 2 minutes with hot air at about 100"C. An instantly cookable dry noodles thus obtained could be fully cooked with boiling water in about 3 minutes. The noodles contained, as shown in Figure 1, a large number of cavities having a pore diameter of 5 to 10 microns.

Example 2 100g of wheat flour, 3g of table salt, 10g of starch, 0.5g of natural gum, 0.5g of viscosity builder and 40g of water were mixed and then kneaded. A soft precursory noodle mass was prepared from the kneaded mass by the conventional process. The precursory noodle mass was steamed for about 1.5 minutes to convert the starchy ingredients into a-type starch. The steamed noodle mass was partially dried with hot air at about 100"C until the water content thereof was reduced to about 25% by weight. The partially dried noodle mass was irradiated continuously for 5 minutes with electromagnetic microwaves having a frequency of 2450 MHz in an atmosphere heated at about 97"C, and finally dried for 5 minutes with hot air at about 100"C. The instantly cookable dry noodles obtained could be fully cooked with boiling water in about 3 minutes. The noodles contained about 13% by weight of water and had a large number cavities having a port diameter of 3 to 8 microns as shown in Figure 2.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A method of making instantly cookable dry noodles, which comprises steaming a soft precursory noodle mass (as herein defined) for 1 to 3 minutes to convert the starchy ingredients into aype starch, partially drying the steamed soft precursory noodle mass with hot air at about 100"C to reduce the water content to 15 to 30% by weight, and exposing the partially dried noodle mass for 2 to 5 minutes to electromagnetic microwaves having a frequency of about 2450 MRz in an atmosphere heated to a temperature of from 70" to 100"C, and, optionally, further drying the noodle mass for up to 5 minutes with hot air at about 100 C.

2. A method of making instantly cookable dry noodles substantially as hereinbefore described in either of the Examples.

3. Instantly cookable dry noodles made by the method of claim 1, which contain a large number of cavities having a pore diameter of from 3 to 10 microns.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (3)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. hot air at about 100"C. The instantly cookable dry noodles obtained could be fully cooked with boiling water in about 3 minutes. The noodles contained about 13% by weight of water and had a large number cavities having a port diameter of 3 to 8 microns as shown in Figure 2. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A method of making instantly cookable dry noodles, which comprises steaming a soft precursory noodle mass (as herein defined) for 1 to 3 minutes to convert the starchy ingredients into aype starch, partially drying the steamed soft precursory noodle mass with hot air at about 100"C to reduce the water content to 15 to 30% by weight, and exposing the partially dried noodle mass for 2 to 5 minutes to electromagnetic microwaves having a frequency of about 2450 MRz in an atmosphere heated to a temperature of from 70" to 100"C, and, optionally, further drying the noodle mass for up to 5 minutes with hot air at about 100 C.

2. A method of making instantly cookable dry noodles substantially as hereinbefore described in either of the Examples.

3. Instantly cookable dry noodles made by the method of claim 1, which contain a large number of cavities having a pore diameter of from 3 to 10 microns.