JP4153400B2 - Method for producing low-temperature dry instant noodles - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing instant noodles in which noodles are gelatinized and then frozen and dried at a low temperature.

  Instant noodles have a low moisture content and are excellent in preservability. In cooking, they can be restored and eaten simply by pouring hot water or boiling for about 3 minutes. However, instant fried noodles have a very porous structure due to the swelling when fried and dried, so that they have a texture that does not have a dull texture. On the other hand, in general instant non-fried noodles, the noodle strings are relatively homogeneous up to the center because they are dried by hot air. It has a stretchy texture and is far from a texture with a cooking feeling like freshly boiled raw noodles, and the noodle strings are easy to bind. Furthermore, instant noodles need to form a wave in the noodle strings in order to dry the noodle strings uniformly and restore them quickly and uniformly at the time of eating. Also in this respect, the appearance and texture are different from raw noodles.

  Therefore, as a method to obtain instant noodles with a texture similar to freshly boiled raw noodles to compensate for these disadvantages, the gelatinized noodle strings are once cooled to near 0 ° C and kept at ice temperature. However, there is a method of drying at an extremely low temperature close to or near ice temperature. For example, there are methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 below. However, in such a method, it is difficult to cool the hot gelatinized noodles and keep them stably in the ice temperature range, and when the ice temperature is kept, the surface of the noodle mass is dried and freeze-baked. There was a drawback that the quality deteriorated.

  Therefore, instead of the production method of keeping at ice temperature, the present inventors rapidly freeze the pregelatinized noodle strings and keep them frozen for a while and thaw it or dry it at a very low temperature after thawing. As a result, it was confirmed that quality more than that kept at ice temperature can be obtained, such as further improving the strain and texture of the noodle strings while overcoming the defects due to drying of the noodle lump surface.

The following Patent Documents 3 to 5 are already known as methods for producing noodles having such steps of pregelatinization, freezing, thawing and drying. Patent Document 3 is a product which is dried at a freezing temperature after freezing, Patent Document 4 is a product which is sun-dried at a temperature below freezing after slow freezing, and Patent Document 5 is a product which is thawed under a high humidity condition of 15 to 18 ° C. after rapid freezing. Then, it is dried at that temperature. However, if it is frozen at a very low temperature after freezing in this way, the drying process takes an extremely long time, and the productivity is poor and the manufacturing process cannot be lined up. According to the experiments by the present inventors, in the case of noodle strings with a cutting blade of No. 20, it is dried under a drying condition at a temperature of 30 ° C., which is much higher than that of Patent Documents 3 to 5, until it has sufficient shelf life as instant noodles. to about 14 hours at wind velocity 1 m / s humidity of about 20 g / m ^3, it takes about 7 hours, even wind speed 3m / s, is reached in the method of Patent Document 3, it takes at least about one week. Further, in the methods of Patent Documents 1 to 3, since the allowable temperature range is narrow, temperature management is extremely difficult, and quality tends to vary.

JP-A 64-85061 JP-A-1-137946 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-153055 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-225454 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-280850

  Although the present invention is instant noodles that can be eaten just by adding hot water, it has a cooking feeling and a feeling like when boiled raw noodles, the noodle quality is not porous but has a texture, and the above frozen It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing low-temperature dried instant noodles that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art that is dried at a low temperature. In particular, the time taken from the pregelatinization to the end of drying is significantly shortened compared to the prior art, enabling efficient industrial production (line production), yet having good quality and quality variations. Get low temperature dry instant noodles.

The present invention is a method for producing instant noodles for solving the above problems,
After freezing the noodles with the water content of 65% or more, preferably 70-75% by freezing the noodle strings, the frozen noodles are dried and thawed at 30-50 ° C. until the water content before freezing falls below. It is a manufacturing method of the low temperature drying instant noodles including a 1st drying process and a 2nd drying process which dries the noodles thawed | decompressed in the said 1st drying process at 30-60 degreeC to a moisture content below to 20% or less. According to this method, a high-quality instant noodle that has a cooking feeling like boiled raw noodles, has a noodle string, has a texture, is easy to loosen the noodle strings, and does not easily melt hot water can be obtained. Moreover, the time required for drying can be shortened, and the drying time can be suppressed within 4 to 6 hours.

  Note that the first drying step and the second drying step may be performed at the same temperature in succession, but drying time is shorter when the temperature of the second drying step is higher than the temperature of the first drying step. This is preferable. Here, the end point of the first drying step, that is, the start point of the second drying step needs to be in a state where the noodle mass is dried and thawed until it falls below the moisture content before freezing. When the frozen noodle strings are dried at 30 to 50 ° C. using a normal atmosphere that is not subjected to treatment such as dehumidification, the moisture content of the noodle strings once rises by about 0.5 to 1% at the time of thawing. This is because the temperature of the frozen noodle mass is low, so it is thought that the noodle mass adsorbs moisture due to a so-called dew-like action, but this increased water content decreases and falls below the water content before freezing. In the thawed state, the quality is hardly affected even if the drying temperature is increased up to 60 ° C. at a later time.

  Therefore, in the second drying step, it is possible to dry at 50 to 60 ° C., which cannot be adopted in the first drying step, and as a result, the quality is almost the same as the case of continuing to dry at a constant temperature of 30 to 50 ° C. Further, the time required for drying can be further shortened to 4 hours or less, and finally to 3 hours or less, and the production process can be lined up.

  In addition to the above step, the present invention provides a method for producing low-temperature instant noodles that is further dried after the moisture content is dried to 20% or less and the temperature in the drying cabinet is set to 60 ° C. or higher as the third drying step. is there. In order to provide sufficient storage stability as instant noodles, it is necessary to dry the moisture content of the final product to about 10% or less, but the moisture content has reached 10% in the second drying step. Even if not, if the moisture content is 20% or less, the noodle quality is hardly affected even if the temperature is further raised and dried at a high temperature. As a result, the drying time can be further reduced as compared with the case of drying to the final product while maintaining the temperature condition of the second drying step.

  In addition, the step of setting the moisture content of the noodle strings to 65% or more, preferably 70 to 75% by the pre-gelatinization is preferably performed by treating the noodle strings with boil, and the moisture content is sufficiently obtained after the boil treatment is sufficiently performed. Thus, instant noodles can be provided with a cooking feeling that tends to be insufficient, and unnatural waves can be removed. On the other hand, if the moisture content of the noodle mass before freezing is low, the hot water does not return when eating, resulting in a crisp texture without a feeling of cooking.

  According to the present invention, although it is an instant noodle, there is a feeling of cooking and strain that is similar to a boiled raw noodle, and the noodle quality is high in density and a full-fledged noodle with a good flavor and texture can be obtained. In addition, compared to conventional general instant noodles, hot water does not stretch easily, the loosening is very good, and noodles without unnatural waves can be obtained. Moreover, according to the production method of the present invention, compared to a conventionally known method of aging at ice temperature for a long time or a method of drying at a very low temperature, it can be dried much faster, and a line for industrial production. Can be made possible. In addition, it is possible to obtain a product having a constant quality as compared with these conventional methods.

  In particular, as the first drying step, the frozen noodles are thawed and dried at 30 to 50 ° C. until the water content once increased at the time of thawing falls below the water content before freezing. And dried at 50 to 60 ° C., the instant noodles of excellent quality as described above can be reduced to about 3 hours as the time for the drying process.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail according to the manufacturing process.

  As the noodle raw material used in the present invention, wheat flour is the main raw material, and starch, buckwheat flour, various flours and the like can be used. Moreover, as an auxiliary material, egg white generally used in instant noodles, various thickeners, gluten, salt, citrus, pigments, and the like can be added. These may be added together with the main raw material in powder form, or may be added by dissolving or suspending in kneading water. In addition, in general instant Chinese noodles, it is difficult to increase the amount of addition of citrus compared to raw noodles to prevent candake burning during the drying process, making it difficult to obtain a unique Chinese noodle odor. Although there was a problem, in the case of the present invention, since the temperature at the time of drying is low, it is difficult to cause burning, and the addition amount of rinsing can be increased to the level of raw noodles. Therefore, when the product form is Chinese noodles, the Chinese noodles can have a more authentic flavor.

  In the present invention, in accordance with a conventional method for producing instant noodles, the above main raw materials, auxiliary raw materials and kneading water are well kneaded to prepare a noodle dough, which is rolled and cut out or extruded by an extruder or the like to produce raw noodles Get a line. In steps such as kneading, noodle band making, and extrusion, kneading, extruding, and the like are preferably performed under reduced pressure or vacuum in order to make the noodle strings dense and improve the texture.

  Next, the obtained raw noodle strings are gelatinized. In the present invention, the raw noodle strings are gelatinized so that the water content is 65% or more, preferably 70% to 75%. As a method for converting to α, it is better to boil, and it is better to boil well in boiling water. In the case of ordinary instant noodles, it is common to make it alpha by steaming, but the moisture content of steamed noodles is usually 30-35%, and it is difficult to reach 65%. It may be combined with boiled or processed so that hot water is sufficiently contained in the noodle strings before or after steaming or in the middle of steaming. As a particularly good method, it is preferable to perform steaming after steaming so that the water content is 65% or more and sufficiently α-ized. The moisture content of 65% or more is a situation where the raw noodles with a cutting blade of No. 20 are treated with boil for about 3 minutes, and when eaten as it is, it is in a state of being overboiled. Incidentally, when a raw noodle is boiled and eaten, the general water content is about 60%.

  By fully boiled to make the water content 65% or more, preferably 70-75%, even if it is instant noodles, it gives a cooking feeling like boiled raw noodles and removes unnatural waves it can. On the other hand, when the water content is low, the noodle strings do not return to hot water when eating, resulting in a textured noodle with no cooking feeling. In the above description, the raw noodle strings are α-formated, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to raw noodle strings, and dry noodles or instant noodles may be converted into α by boiling to obtain a moisture content of 65% or more, preferably 70-75%.

  Noodles with a water content of 65% or more that have been α-treated may be immediately subjected to a freezing treatment, but are preferably washed with water and drained for the purpose of cooling the noodle strings and cooling them. Or, for the purpose of further improving the flavor and cooling of the noodle strings, and the unraveling during eating, spray or soak a solution containing salt, sodium glutamate, a loosening agent (lecithin or water-soluble hemicellulose), etc. on the noodle strings. It is preferable to do.

  Such noodle strings are frozen and frozen to the center. Freezing is preferably quick-frozen in order to prevent deterioration of the surface of the noodle mass due to drying and to shorten the time. As a method for producing frozen noodles, a method of placing a pre-gelatinized noodle string for each serving in a molded tray and putting it in a freezer at −30 ° C. or lower is acceptable, but other methods may be used. If the freezing is not enough, it is difficult to produce a unique texture with a strong strain and high density. Moreover, the frozen noodles are stored in the freezer for a long time, so that the noodle strings are evenly frozen and the density of the noodle strings is further improved.

  According to the experimental data of the present inventors, the quality was best when stored in a freezer (−10 ° C.) for several days after rapid freezing. It is also conceivable to store it in the storage area and take it out when the necessity arises and perform the subsequent steps. However, when the freezing start temperature is −35 ° C., about 30 minutes, that is, by making the state sufficiently frozen to the center, what is expected as noodle quality can be obtained, so the production process is lined up Alternatively, in the case where the drying step is continuously performed after freezing, the freezing treatment may be performed for a time period for freezing to the central portion (about 30 minutes at −35 ° C.) or more.

In the present invention, the noodle mass completely frozen as described above is dried and thawed at 30 to 50 ° C. as a first drying step until the water content falls below the water content before freezing. When the frozen noodle strings are dried at 30 to 50 ° C. using a normal atmosphere not subjected to dehumidification or the like, specifically, when drying at a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ or more, the noodles are thawed. The moisture content of the wire usually once rises about 0.5 to 1%. This is thought to be due to the so-called dew-like action in which the noodle mass once adsorbs the surrounding water because the temperature of the frozen noodle mass is low. Thus, since the moisture content of the noodle strings once rises by about 0.5 to 1%, a certain amount of time is required for drying to a state below the moisture content before freezing.

According to the experiments by the present inventors, the drying time until the moisture content before freezing varies depending on conditions such as humidity in the drying chamber, air volume, and noodle mass thickness, but the drying chamber temperature is 40 ° C. and the humidity is 20 g / hr. m ³ , final noodle mass weight 70-75 g, noodle mass thickness 2.5 cm, wind speed 5 m / s, about 15 minutes, 3 m / s about 20 minutes. The faster the wind speed, the faster the drying and thawing, but considering the power consumption, etc., the wind speed should be about 3-4 m / s.

  In addition, when the drying temperature of the said 1st drying process is too low, drying will require a very long time, and proliferation of the microorganisms in a noodle string may occur when it takes a long time. On the other hand, when the temperature of the first drying step is set to 50 ° C. or higher, or the temperature is increased to 50 ° C. or higher before the moisture content before freezing is reached, a general non-fried noodle such that the surface of the noodle strings is stretched Noodle quality such as (hot-air dried noodles) is deteriorated, and the loosening of the noodles is also deteriorated, so that the intended noodle quality cannot be obtained. Further, even when the temperature is raised to 50 ° C. or higher in a state where thawing is not sufficient, the portion where thawing is insufficient becomes noodle quality like non-fried noodles. Therefore, in the present invention, it is important that the noodle mass is dried at 30 to 50 ° C. until the water content before freezing is lower than that before freezing.

  Subsequently, the water content is lower than the water content at the time of freezing, and the thawed noodle mass is dried at 30 to 60 ° C. until the water content becomes 20% or less as the second drying step. The noodles that have been thawed and the water content is equal to or lower than the water content at the time of freezing have a higher temperature of 60 ° C. than the first drying step because the quality does not change even if the drying temperature is increased to 60 ° C. Can be dried. Therefore, when the noodle mass dried at 30 to 50 ° C. in the first drying step is thawed and the water content falls below the water content at the time of freezing, the second drying step is dried under the same conditions as the first drying step. However, increasing the temperature and continuing to dry at 50 to 60 ° C. is intended to shorten the drying time, to reduce the total power consumption, and to keep the line scale as large as possible. preferable.

According to the experiments by the present inventors, a noodle lump having a water content of about 70% (final noodle lump weight 70 to 75 g, noodle lump thickness 2.5 cm) after completion of the first drying step is dried under the drying conditions of the second drying step. In order to reduce the moisture content of the noodles to 20% or less at a wind speed of 3 m / s and humidity of 20 g / m ³ , it takes about 5 hours in the case of 30 ° C. (when the temperature is not raised), whereas 50 ° C. In some cases, it can be shortened to about 2 hours. If the drying temperature is raised to 60 ° C. or higher in a state where the moisture content does not reach 20% or less, noodles with insufficient cooking feeling and poor loosening are obtained.

  As described above, the noodle strings that have been subjected to the low temperature drying treatment can be packaged and commercialized as they are without any problem in storage stability if the moisture content of the noodle strings is dried to about 10% or less. However, even when the water content does not reach 10% or less, if the water content is lowered to 20% or less, the temperature can be further increased to dry. That is, if the moisture content is 20% or less, the quality is not greatly affected even if the temperature is further raised and dried at 60 ° C. or higher. Therefore, when it is desired to further reduce the moisture content or to further shorten the drying time, the third drying step can be performed by further raising the temperature when the moisture content becomes 20% or less. However, when the temperature is raised to 100 ° C. or higher, there are problems such as scorching and burning.

  The instant noodles of the present invention produced as described above become highly convenient instant noodles that can be eaten simply by pouring hot water at the time of eating and leaving it for about 3 to 5 minutes, or just cooking for a few minutes. The product can be either cup noodles or bag noodles, and can be applied to Chinese noodles such as ramen, Japanese noodles such as udon and soba, and noodles such as spaghetti.

  The present invention will be specifically described below based on experimental examples and examples, but the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner based on the disclosure of these experimental examples and examples.

Experimental Example 1 (Comparison when dried at a constant temperature)
50 g of starch is mixed with 950 g of wheat flour, 10 g of kansui (sodium carbonate: potassium carbonate = 2: 1), 1 g of sodium polyphosphate and 350 ml of kneading water in which 1 g of gardenia pigment is dissolved are added and kneaded with a mixer for 15 minutes. To form a dough. This was rolled to 1.1 mm with a rolling mill, cut out with a square blade No. 20 to make noodle strings, and cut into a serving of 110 g to obtain raw noodles. Boiled in enough boiling water for 3 minutes, washed with water and cooled to lower the noodle string temperature to about 20 ° C, then immersed in a cooled seasoning solution of 1% salt and 1% water-soluble hemicellulose for about 30 seconds. The noodle strings were placed in a tray having a diameter of 145 mm and a height of 50 mm. The noodle weight in the tray was 245 to 255 g, and the water content was 73%. This was put in a freezer at −35 ° C., rapidly frozen, and placed for 30 minutes until completely frozen. Then place the frozen noodles from the tray in de pan to constant temperature dryer luggage racks, 40 ℃, 50 ℃, 60 ℃, the order of wind speed 3.5 m / s at a fixed temperature of 100 ° C., in order humidity 20 g / m ³ Dried.

  During drying, the weight of the noodles is measured as needed, and the drying time is measured until the moisture content is 10% or less, which is the same as that of the final product. In a container, 450 ml of hot water was added and left for 4 minutes, and 5 panelists tasted it. The results are shown in Table 1.

  In addition, the taste evaluation has a texture similar to that of instant noodles of low-temperature drying type, and it has a texture that is cooked and firm like boiled noodles. What has had was made into a defect. From the results in Table 1, it can be understood that instant noodles with excellent quality by low temperature drying treatment can be obtained by drying at 50 ° C. or less, preferably 40 ° C. However, at 40 ° C., it takes 5 hours to dry, and it can be understood that it takes time to dry.

Experimental Example 2 (Comparison due to difference in frozen state before drying)
Raw noodle strings prepared in the same manner as in Experimental Example 1 were boiled for 3 minutes, and boiled noodles having a water content of about 73% were prepared and placed in a tray of the same size as in Experimental Example 1. This noodle is completely frozen at -35 ° C for 30 minutes in a freezer, half-frozen at -35 ° C for 10 minutes, half-frozen at -20 ° C for 30 minutes, -2 ° C for 30 minutes What was not frozen was prepared, depanned from the tray, placed on a net shelf of a constant temperature dryer, and dried for 150 minutes at 40 ° C., a wind speed of about 3.5 m / s, and a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ . Further, after 150 minutes, the temperature was raised to 50 ° C. and further dried for 60 minutes, and 210 minutes after the start of drying.

  After drying, the noodle weight was measured, the water content was measured, the dried noodle mass was placed in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured, and the mixture was allowed to stand for 4 minutes, and was sampled by five panelists. The results are shown in Table 2.

  In this experimental example, the evaluation of the tasting was mainly evaluated on the point of the noodle strings and the texture like the low-temperature dry noodles. From the results in Table 2, it can be seen that satisfactory quality cannot be obtained unless it is completely frozen.

Experimental Example 3 (Comparison by difference in moisture content before freezing)
The raw noodle strings prepared by the production method of Experimental Example 1 were steamed in the pregelatinization method (steaming pressure 0.4 kg / cm ² , 2 minutes) or boiled to change the moisture content before freezing to 31.5-75. 5%, placed in a tray of the same size as in Experimental Example 1, rapidly frozen in a freezer at −35 ° C., and placed for 30 minutes until completely frozen. Next, the frozen noodles were removed from the tray, placed on a net shelf of a constant temperature dryer, and dried at 40 ° C. at a wind speed of about 3.5 m / s and a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ for 150 minutes. Further, after 150 minutes, the temperature was raised to 50 ° C., and the final moisture content was further reduced to 10% or less until the moisture content was satisfactory for storage.

  After drying, the noodle weight was measured, the water content was measured, the dried noodle mass was put in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured and left for 4 minutes, and 5 panelists sampled. The results are shown in Table 3. The drying time in the table is the time from the start of drying. As for the steaming, the moisture content reached 10% at 40 ° C., so drying at 50 ° C. was not performed.

  In addition, the evaluation of the tasting was mainly based on the feeling of cooking and texture like freshly-boiled noodles that seem to be low-temperature dry noodles. From the results of Table 3, it is considered that the most satisfactory product can be obtained when the moisture content of the noodle strings before freezing is about 65% or more, preferably about 70 to 75%.

Experimental Example 4 (Comparison in the case where the temperature is raised and the second drying step is performed)
Raw noodles prepared in the same manner as in Experimental Example 1 were boiled for 3 minutes to prepare boiled noodles having a water content of 72.0%, and placed in a tray of the same size as in Experimental Example 1. The noodles were frozen in a freezer at −35 ° C. for 30 minutes and then de-panned from the tray and placed on a net shelf of a constant temperature dryer. As a first drying step, 40 ° C., wind speed of about 3.5 m / s, It was dried at a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ . Samples are extracted every 10 minutes with a drying time of up to 60 minutes, and the moisture content is measured by measuring the weight. Subsequently, as the second drying step, 135 minutes at 60 ° C., wind speed of about 3.5 m / s. And dried at a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ .

  After drying, the noodle weight was measured, the water content was measured, the dried noodle mass was placed in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured, and the mixture was allowed to stand for 4 minutes, and was sampled by five panelists. The results are shown in Table 4.

  In addition, the taste evaluation has a texture similar to that of instant noodles of low-temperature drying type, and it has a texture that is cooked and firm like boiled noodles. What has had was made into a defect. As can be seen from Table 4, the water content slightly increases at the beginning of the first drying step. This seems to occur because the noodle mass is frozen and the ambient temperature is higher than this, so that the noodle mass takes in the surrounding water. In 20 minutes, the water content almost returned to that before drying, but the noodle mass was not determined to be completely thawed. From this, it can be seen that if the product is thawed and dried until the water content is lower than the water content before freezing = the water content before freezing, even if the temperature is increased to 60 ° C., the quality is less affected.

Experimental Example 5 (Comparison by temperature in the second drying process)
In Experiment 4 a that the drying condition of the first drying step was 40 ° C. 30 min, 50 ° C. as a second drying step conditions, 60 ° C., about wind speed 3.5 m / s as 70 ° C., about humidity 20 g / ^{m 3} Then, it was dried so that the final moisture was 10% or less. After drying, the noodle weight was measured, the water content was measured, the dried noodle mass was placed in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured, and the mixture was allowed to stand for 4 minutes, and was sampled by five panelists.

  In addition, the taste evaluation has a texture similar to that of instant noodles of low-temperature drying type, and it has a texture that is cooked and firm like boiled noodles. What has had was made into a defect. The results are shown in Table 5. According to Table 5, it can be seen that if the temperature of the second drying step is 60 ° C. or less, the quality is less affected.

Experimental Example 6 (Comparison when performing the third drying step)
In Experimental Example 4, the drying condition of the first drying process is 40 ° C. for 30 minutes, the second drying process condition is 50 ° C., the wind speed is about 3.5 m / s, the humidity is about 20 g / m ³ , and the moisture content of the noodle strings is about It was dried for a predetermined time from 30% to 10% of the final product stage. After measuring the moisture content after the second drying step, the temperature was raised to 70 ° C. except for the one that reached the final moisture of 10% or less as the third drying step. It was dried so that the water content was about 10% of the final product stage at about s and humidity of about 16 g / m ³ . After drying, the noodle weight was measured, the water content was measured, the dried noodle mass was placed in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured, and the mixture was allowed to stand for 4 minutes, and was sampled by five panelists.

  In addition, the taste evaluation has a texture similar to that of instant noodles of low-temperature drying type, and it has a texture that is cooked and firm like boiled noodles. What has had was made into a defect. The results are shown in Table 6. According to Table 6, when the temperature is raised to 70 ° C. as the third drying step, if the moisture content before entering the third drying step is about 20% or less, the quality is improved even if the drying temperature is raised to 70 ° C. It turns out that there is almost no influence.

Experimental Example 7 (Comparison by temperature in the third drying step)
In Experimental Example 6, the second drying process was performed at 50 ° C. for 130 minutes until the water content was about 20%. After measuring the weight of the semi-dried noodle mass to confirm the water content, the third drying step is performed at a temperature of 70 to 100 ° C., a wind speed of 3.5 m / s, and a humidity of 10 to 15 g / m ³ ) for a predetermined time. It was dried so that the final moisture was 10% or less. After drying, the noodle weight was measured, the water content was measured, the dried noodle mass was placed in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured and left for 4 minutes, and 5 panelists sampled.

  In addition, the taste evaluation has a texture similar to that of instant noodles of low-temperature drying type, and it has a texture that is cooked and firm like boiled noodles. What has had was made into a defect. The results are shown in Table 7. According to Table 7, when the third drying step was 100 ° C., the noodles were slightly burned, but there was almost no problem, and if the moisture content was dried to 20% or less, it was almost a problem even if the drying temperature was raised. I found out that there was no. However, since drying time is difficult to control when drying at a high temperature, it is desirable to dry at 80 ° C. or lower.

Example 1
Mix 950g of wheat flour with 50g of tapioca starch, then add 10g of Kansui (sodium carbonate: potassium carbonate = 2: 1), 5g of egg white powder, 1g of sodium polyphosphate and 1.5g of gardenia pigment to dissolve 350ml of kneading water. In addition, a dough was formed by kneading at a vacuum degree of -600 mmHg for 15 minutes using a vacuum mixer. This was rolled to 1.1 mm with a rolling mill, cut out with a square blade No. 20 to make noodle strings, and cut into a serving of 110 g to obtain raw noodles. Boil in boiled water for 3 minutes with sufficient boiling water, wash and cool with tap water at 20 ° C for 30 seconds, and add 1% salt, 1% water-soluble hemicellulose, 0.5% sodium glutamate at 20 ° C And dipped in a tray with a diameter of 145 mm and a height of 50 mm. This was put in a freezer at −35 ° C., rapidly frozen, and placed for 30 minutes until completely frozen. Next, the frozen noodles are removed from the tray and placed on a net shelf of a constant temperature dryer. The first drying step is 45 ° C. for 60 minutes, the second drying step is 50 ° C. for 150 minutes, and the third drying step is 70 ° C. It was dried at a wind speed of about 3.5 m / s for 15 minutes and a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ .

  When the moisture content after drying was measured, it was 8.0%. The noodle mass was placed in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured, and the mixture was allowed to stand for 4 minutes. There was no binding between the noodle strings, the fraying was good, the cooking feeling and the strong strain like boiled noodles, the texture was extremely excellent, the hot water did not stretch easily, and the noodles were not twisted.

Example 2
The noodles produced and frozen in the same manner as in Example 1 were removed and placed on a net shelf of a constant temperature dryer. This time, the first drying step was 15 minutes at 50 ° C., the second drying step was 120 minutes at 60 ° C., As a 3 drying process, it was dried at 70 ° C. for 15 minutes at a wind speed of about 3.5 m / s and a humidity of about 20 g / m ³ . The time required for drying is a total of 150 minutes.

When the moisture content after drying was measured, it was 8.5%. The noodle mass was put in a styrene container, 450 ml of hot water was poured and left standing for 4 minutes, and the Chinese noodle soup was put in and sampled. There was no binding between the noodle strings, the fraying was good, the cooking feeling and strain of boiled noodles was high, the texture was high, the hot water did not stretch easily, and the noodles were not twisted.

Claims (5)

A first drying step of freezing the noodles having a moisture content of 65% or more by α-forming the noodle strings, and then drying and thawing the frozen noodles at 30 to 50 ° C. until the moisture content before freezing falls below, A method for producing low-temperature dried instant noodles, comprising a second drying step of drying the noodles thawed in the first drying step at 30 to 60 ° C. to a moisture content of 20% or less. The method for producing low-temperature dried instant noodles according to claim 1, wherein the second drying step dries at a higher temperature than the first drying step. The method for producing low-temperature instant noodles according to claim 2, wherein the second drying step dries at 50 to 60 ° C. 4. The low-temperature drying instant according to claim 1, further comprising a step of drying the noodle strings at a temperature of 60 ° C. or higher until the water content becomes 10% or lower as the third drying step after the second drying step. 5. A method for producing noodles. The method for producing low-temperature dried instant noodles according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method of α-forming the noodle strings includes a step of converting the noodle-string to α by boiling.