JP5904769B2 - Instant noodle manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing instant noodles having a dense noodle quality and a real feeling.

  Instant noodles are excellent foods that can be eaten in a cooking time of only about 3 minutes by adding hot water and waiting for a few minutes, or cooking for about 3 minutes, and can be stored for a long time. However, in order to realize the resilience in a short time, the noodle strings have a high degree of swelling. Therefore, the noodle strings have no tension and tend to have a fluffy texture.

  Various methods have been proposed for improving the noodle quality and texture of instant noodles. In the meantime, a method of adding an aging step (also referred to as “nekashi”) of 1 to several hours under low temperature to normal temperature conditions is well known. However, even with such “nekashi”, there is room for improvement because it is far from the full-fledged texture of cooking raw noodles.

  Therefore, in instant noodles, a technique for drying noodles by low-temperature drying is known as a technique for imparting stronger elasticity and tension to the noodle strings than performing “Nekashi”. This is a technique for drying noodles at a low temperature after sufficiently converting the noodle strings into alpha, and there are techniques such as Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example. However, low temperature drying has a problem that productivity is poor because it takes a long time to dry, and further, the number of viable bacteria in the product is high because the temperature during drying is low. In addition, the quality of the noodles is likely to change due to slight differences in temperature, changes in humidity and air volume, and there is a drawback that the quality tends to vary from lot to lot. In particular, if adjustment of humidity, air volume, etc. is not sufficient, defective products such as hot water may not be returned by pouring hot water may occur.

Therefore, at the level of the above-mentioned low-temperature dry instant noodles, or higher, it has excellent elasticity and tension while being instant noodles, and real noodles cannot be achieved in a short period of time, or in short, conditions that are not low temperature The following treatment was examined for a method for obtaining noodles with excellent elasticity and tension.
Thus, in the manufacturing method of instant noodles, there exist the following patent documents 3-5 as a technique which processes on the conditions which are not low temperature during the manufacturing process.

  Patent Document 3 is a method of tempering at 50 to 100 ° C. after drying at high temperature in order to prevent deterioration of noodle quality after drying. Patent Document 4 is a technique for obtaining noodles that are firm and less stretched by heating and humidifying at 60-100 ° C. for several seconds to 20 minutes after the drying process, and Patent Document 5 is dried again after humidifying the dried noodles after the gelatinization. This is a technique for preventing the binding between noodle strings and obtaining glossy noodles. However, either technique is insufficient to give high elasticity and tension comparable to the above-mentioned low-temperature dry instant noodles, and both techniques are humidified after drying, so re-drying There is a possibility that a process to be performed is required or a problem is caused in storage stability.

JP-A-1-137946 JP 2005-110562 A JP 58-216655 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-274657 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-194327

  The present invention provides a method for producing instant noodles, which is instant noodles as described above, and the noodle strings have strong elasticity at the time of eating, and the noodles are dense and have excellent authentic noodles. The purpose is to do.

  The inventors of the present invention examined whether there is a method having an effect equivalent to or higher than that of low-temperature dried noodles by a simple method. As a result, it has been found that the above-mentioned problems can be achieved by subjecting the noodles made into raw noodles by steaming or boiled for a while under a specific high humidity and medium to high temperature environment, followed by drying treatment. did.

That is, the present invention is a method for producing instant noodles including the following steps (a) to (c).
(A) Steaming and / or boiling raw noodle strings,
(B) a step of exposing the noodle strings for 5 to 30 minutes at a high humidity of 40 to 95 ° C. and a relative humidity of 60 to 100%;
(C) drying the noodle strings;
This is a method for producing instant noodles including the steps (a), (b) and (c) in this order.

In the instant noodle manufacturing method, (d) step (d) of (d) steaming and / or boiling the noodle strings between the steps (b) and (c) may be further added. it can. By having the step (d), the noodles are sufficiently α-ized, and not only noodles with more elasticity and density can be obtained, but also there is an effect of unraveling and improving the loosening of the binding between the noodle strings.

  Further, the moisture content of steamed noodles or boiled noodles immediately before the step (b) is preferably 35 to 60% by weight, particularly preferably 40 to 50% by weight. In order to adjust the water content to such a level, in step (a), the steaming treatment is followed by a method of increasing the water content by water immersion, water showering, etc. There are methods such as increasing the content. Particularly preferably, as the step (e), a method is preferred in which cold water is absorbed into the noodles subjected to the gelatinization treatment in the step (a) to increase the water content to 35 to 60% by weight, optimally 40 to 50% by weight. .

Further, the step of exposing the noodle strings under high humidity in the step (b) is performed at a temperature of 80 to 90 ° C. and a high temperature and high humidity of relative humidity 60 to 100% for 10 minutes or more and less than 30 minutes, in particular noodles. High tension and elasticity are preferable.
In addition, the drying step of the step (c) can employ any method such as hot air drying method or fried oil drying method, which is adopted as a method for drying instant noodles, but in the case of hot air drying, the present invention exhibits the most excellent effect. To do.

  According to the present invention, instant noodles have strong viscoelasticity at the time of eating and the noodle strings have a strong viscoelasticity. Thus, an excellent noodle quality instant noodle with a real feeling can be obtained, and there is little binding between the noodle strings. Also good. Furthermore, according to the present invention, compared to the case of drying by a low temperature drying method, a short time treatment is sufficient, quality variation unlike low temperature dry noodles is less likely to occur, and the number of viable bacteria in the noodle strings is reduced. be able to. In addition, the time required for the production can be shortened compared to the conventional aging method, that is, the method of aging at a low temperature to a normal temperature in the state of the noodle band, and more instant noodles with more elastic noodle quality can be obtained.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described according to the production process.
In the present invention, various raw materials and auxiliary raw materials used for instant noodles can be used. In addition to wheat flour, various flours, buckwheat flour, starch and the like are used as the main raw material, and salt, citrus, polymerized phosphate, gluten, egg white, emulsifier and the like can be used as auxiliary raw materials. In particular, in the present invention, it is desirable to add a large amount of kansui (sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, etc.) in the case of Chinese noodles, and various phosphates in other cases, at a level that does not cause rinsing. Specifically, the amount of sodium carbonate or potassium carbonate added in the case of hot-air dried Chinese noodles is preferably about 7 to 15 g per 1 kg of raw material powder, preferably about 10 to 12 g per kg.

  In the present invention, these auxiliary ingredients such as wheat flour are kneaded well so as to be as uniform as possible by dissolving the auxiliary ingredients in the kneaded water or adding the auxiliary ingredients directly to the ingredient flour and then adding kneading water. The amount of the mixing water is about 30 to 40% by weight with respect to the raw material powder. The noodle dough produced in this way is made into a noodle strip with a multifunction machine or the like and then rolled and cut into raw noodle strings. Or it can be extruded with an extruder or the like to form a raw noodle string.

  The obtained raw noodle strings are gelatinized by steaming or boiling. In the present invention, noodles with high water content that have been gelatinized by boiling or steaming are aged by exposure to an environment of 40 to 95 ° C. and a relative humidity of 60 to 100%. The water content is preferably adjusted to 35 to 60% by weight, particularly preferably 40 to 50% by weight. If it is 35% or less, the noodle strings after aging are sticky, and the loosening of the noodle strings in the subsequent steps may be deteriorated. If it is 60% or more, if the moisture is too high, elasticity may not be sufficiently obtained. On the other hand, the effect of the present invention is most remarkable at 40 to 50%.

As a method for pre-gelatinizing noodles, the water content of the noodle strings is usually about the same as or slightly higher than that of raw noodles when steaming is performed. In order to increase the water content by steaming, water showering, seasoning, etc. after steaming, or by water showering or short hot water soaking during steaming. preferable.
On the other hand, in the case of boiled, the moisture content increases too much when boiled for a long time. Therefore, in order to keep it to a particularly preferable 50% by weight or less, the moisture content is adjusted by shortening the boiled time or drying after boiling. You may do it. In the present invention, particularly preferably, the steaming treatment is first performed, the moisture content is increased by immersion in water and the like, and after aging under high humidity, the mixture is further steamed again or further in order to further increase the degree of gelatinization. A method of boiling is particularly preferred.

  As described above, in the present invention, in order to impart high elasticity to the noodle strings after steaming or boiling and adjusting the moisture as necessary, the gelatinized noodles as described above are used at 40 ° C to 95 ° C. The noodle strings are exposed to aging at a temperature of 0 ° C. and a relative humidity of 60% or more. The time for aging varies considerably depending on the temperature, but it may be as short as 5 to 30 minutes. The higher the temperature, the longer it will depend on the amount of rinsing added to the raw material, but this time it will Since burning (discoloration to brown) occurs, the temperature is preferably set to 95 ° C. or lower. About 5 to 30 minutes can be employed under the conditions of approximately 40 to 95 ° C. and relative humidity of 60 to 100%. Particularly preferable conditions are 60 to 90 ° C. relative humidity 60 to 100% for 10 to 30 minutes, and more preferably 80 to 90 ° C. relative humidity 60 to 100% for about 10 to 30 minutes.

  In addition, the process of exposing and aging the noodle strings before drying under high humidity in the present invention is different from steaming the noodle strings with saturated steam. In the present invention, if this ripening step is replaced with steaming with saturated steam, the noodle strings will burn noodles, and the noodle strings will have a crisp texture, but the effect of the present invention will not be sufficient. . Moreover, even if it exposes to high temperature and humidity before performing the process by steaming or boiled, ie, the state of raw noodles, a high effect is not acquired.

  The noodles thus aged under high humidity may be dried by hot air drying, frying, etc. to make instant noodles, but as described above, preferably after aging, boiled or steamed again to be pregelatinized. it can. In particular, when the instant noodles are hot-air dried noodles, in order to obtain noodles that are not raw and have a high density feeling, it is preferable to treat them with a koji after maturation and sufficiently α. Thus, when steaming or boiled after aging, it is washed with water, cooled and then dried. When drying, the noodle strings are cut into servings, packed in a retainer and dried. The cut for each serving may be any process as long as it is a process after cutting out the noodle strings.

  Various drying methods such as hot air drying, fried oil, low temperature drying, freeze drying, etc. can be adopted as drying methods for instant noodles, but in order to obtain a more dense and tight noodle quality Is preferably hot-air drying or the like. In addition, even when using a drying method such as frying and freeze-drying, compared with those produced by the same drying method, by performing the aging step under high humidity of the present invention, much higher elasticity and Tension can be added.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by showing comparative experiments and the like.
<Example 1>
To 1 kg of wheat flour, 15 g of salt, 10 g of kansui (sodium carbonate: potassium carbonate = 1: 1), and 340 ml of kneaded water in which 2 g of sodium polyphosphate was dissolved were added and kneaded well with a vacuum mixer for 15 minutes to produce a noodle dough. . Next, the noodle band was formed with a multifunction machine, rolled to 1.25 mm through a rolling roller, and the noodle strings were cut out with a No. 20 square blade.

  The cut noodle strings are steamed for 1 minute and 20 seconds at a steam flow rate of 180 kg / h and 100 ° C. in a steam warehouse where the net conveyor moves inside. Soaked in water and cooled. At this time, the moisture content of the noodle strings was about 49% by weight (hereinafter,% of the moisture content of the noodle strings represents% by weight).

  The noodles thus pregelatinized were allowed to stand in a high-temperature and high-humidity chamber with a chamber temperature of 80 ° C. and a relative humidity of 80% for 15 minutes. The water content was 44%. After standing, boiled with boiling water at 100 ° C. for 3 minutes, boiled and then passed through a water shower for 2 seconds, cooled with cold water at 20 ° C. for 30 seconds, and filled into the retainer. The weight of one noodle string was about 220 to 230 g. The drying process was performed for 90 to 100 minutes with a hot air dryer at 80 ° C. and a wind speed of 3 m / s. There was no noticeable burnt burn on the noodle strings.

  The hot air-dried noodles thus produced were cooled and allowed to stand for 1 day, then placed in a container, poured with 400 ml of hot water, left to stand for 5 minutes, remixed with chopsticks, and thoroughly eaten. Five skilled panelists confirmed that the noodle strings were loose, the elasticity of the noodles, and the tension on the surface of the noodles. It was an evaluation with full-fledged full-fledged noodles.

<Comparative Test 1> Examination of Aging Temperature and Humidity In Example 1, the aging step under high temperature and high humidity for 15 minutes at a temperature of 80 ° C. and a relative humidity of 80%, as shown in Table 1, the temperature is 5 to 90 ° C. Samples were manufactured at a relative humidity of 60 to 100% and tested in the same manner as in Example 1. The noodles produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that they did not have an aging step were used as controls, and five skilled panelists compared with this control and evaluated by majority vote.

  As Table 1 shows, the effect began to appear at 100% humidity at 40 ° C. Therefore, it seemed that the effect on the tension and elasticity of the noodles would be obtained if treated at 40 ° C. for a long time. Moreover, the elasticity with the characteristic tension became remarkable from around 60 degreeC, and it was effective in any humidity. In particular, at 80 ° C. and 90 ° C., a very high effect appeared at any humidity of 60% or more. In addition, since the blending amount of Kansui was large in this blending, the noodle strings were slightly burned at 90 ° C. and a relative humidity of 80% or more. This seems to be improved if the blending amount of Kansui is reduced.

<Comparative test 2> Examination of aging time In the production method of Example 1, the aging process at a temperature of 80 ° C. and a relative humidity of 80% for 15 minutes under a high temperature and high humidity is shown in Table 2, with the temperature being 80 ° C. and the relative humidity. Samples were produced at 80% with the aging time changed from 7.5 minutes to 30 minutes, and the test was conducted in the same manner as in Example 1. Moreover, in this comparative test 2, the water content was also measured. The water content after steaming and before water immersion was 34%, and the water content after water immersion and before aging was 49%.
In addition, it determined by the majority vote of five skilled panelists like the comparative test 1 by making the noodle produced similarly except having no aging process as a control.

As shown in Table 2, under the condition of 80 ° C. and relative humidity of 80%, a considerable effect is obtained even in 7.5 minutes. For example, in the case of a temperature of about 90 ° C., it seems that the effect is produced from about 5 minutes.
In addition, since the blending amount of Kansui was large in this blending, the noodle strings were slightly burned in 30 minutes or more, but this seems to be improved if the blending amount of Kansui is reduced.

<Comparative Test 3> Examination of timing of aging step In the production method of Example 1, the aging step under high temperature and high humidity of 80 ° C. and relative humidity of 80% for 15 minutes was carried out after water immersion after cooking, and Although it performed before boiled, as shown in Table 3, it carried out in each process from after cutting out noodle strings until after drying, and it tested similarly to Example 1 and confirmed the effect.
In addition, it determined by the majority vote of five skilled panelists like the comparative test 1 by making the noodle produced similarly except having no aging process as a control.

  As shown in Table 3, even after treatment under high temperature and high humidity after cutting and drying with hot air, there was a slight tendency to improve the tension and elasticity, but the level of the “nekashi” process in the so-called noodle band On the other hand, those subjected to the treatment exposed to high humidity after cooking until drying had strong elasticity and tension. The reason why the ones treated after soaking and before soaking in water were slightly unraveled was probably because the moisture content at the time of aging was slightly low, and could be solved by increasing the amount of water added to the raw material.

<Comparative Test 4> Example with fried noodles To 1 kg of wheat flour, 15 g of salt, 3 g of kansui (sodium carbonate: potassium carbonate = 1: 1), and 340 ml of kneaded water containing 2 g of sodium polyphosphate were added, and 15 The noodle dough was manufactured by kneading well for a minute. Next, the noodle band was formed with a multifunction machine, rolled to 1.1 mm through a rolling roller, and the noodle strings were cut out with a 22nd round blade.

The cut noodles were steamed for 2 minutes at a steam flow rate of 240 kg / h and 100 ° C. in a steam warehouse where the net conveyor transported the inside, and cut into 115 g per noodle wire.
The steamed noodle strings cut into a serving of 115 g were immersed in cold water and cooled so that the noodle strings absorbed moisture. Subsequently, after leaving for 15 minutes in a high-temperature and high-humidity chamber at 80 ° C. and a relative humidity of 80%, the moisture content was 46%. The noodles were filled in a retainer and fried with palm oil at 145 ° C. for 80 seconds to obtain fried noodles of Example 2.

Like the fried noodles of Example 2, 115 g of noodles that had been steamed at 100 ° C. for 2 minutes were not soaked in cold water and aged at 80 ° C. and 80% humidity, and the moisture content of the noodles was 33%. . This noodle was filled into a retainer and fried with palm oil at 145 ° C. for 80 seconds in the same manner as in Example 2 to obtain a control fried noodle.
Moreover, although it immersed in cold water like the fried noodle of Example 2, the moisture content of the noodle which did not perform the ripening process by 80 degreeC humidity 80% was 45%. This noodle was filled in a retainer and fried with palm oil at 145 ° C. for 80 seconds to obtain a fried noodle of Comparative Example 2.

  Each of the fried noodles of Example 2, the control fried noodles, and the fried noodles of Comparative Example 2 was boiled and cooked with 500 ml of boiling water for 3 minutes, and thoroughly stirred with chopsticks. Five skilled panelists confirmed the looseness of the noodle strings, the elasticity of the noodles, and the tension of the surface of the noodles. It was a full-fledged, full-fledged noodle.

Claims (5)

(A) Steaming and / or boiling raw noodle strings,
(B) a step of exposing the noodle strings for 5 to 30 minutes at a high humidity of 40 to 95 ° C. and a relative humidity of 60 to 100%;
(C) A method for producing instant noodles comprising the steps of drying the noodle strings by hot air drying or frying in the order of (a), (b) and (c). Between the step (b) and the step (c),
The method for producing instant noodles according to claim 1, further comprising (d) a step of steaming and / or boiling the noodle strings and subjecting them to a gelatinization treatment. The method for producing instant noodles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the noodle string moisture content of the noodles immediately before the step (b) is 35 to 60% by weight. Between step (a) and step (b),
The method for producing instant noodles according to claim 3, further comprising (e) a step of absorbing cold water into the pregelatinized noodle, wherein the water content of the noodle strings is adjusted to 35 to 60 wt% by the step (e). . The method for producing instant noodles according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the step (b) is a step of exposing to a high temperature and high humidity of 60 to 100% relative humidity for 10 to 30 minutes at a temperature of 80 to 90 ° C. .