Studies on Storage of Dried Japanese Noodles

Part II. Changes in Quality of Dried Japanese Noodles during Storage

Abstract

Storage tests were carried out to determine the shelflife of "hiramen", "udon", "hiyamugi" and "sômen". The changes of physical properties of dried noodles during storage were investigated by bending tester, Farinograph, Extensograph and tensile tester. Appreciable increase was observed in bending strength, resistance to extention, tensile strength and their elasticity. The increase gave contrasting effects depending on the kind of noodles, thick or fine; namely, it gave unfavorable influence on palatability of thick noodles such as "hiramen" and "udon", but favorable effect upon fine noodles such as "hiyamugi" and "somen". The reason of this difference was seem to depend largely on the manner to eat: thick noodles are more or less masticated, while fine noodles are tend to be rather swallowed. Fat acidity also increased during storage indicating a possible index for quality change. Cooking loss was reduced by storage showing the improvement of cooking quality. Shelflife of dried Japanese noodles in Tokyo district were concluded as follows: within one year for "hiramen" and "udon", one year and half for "hiyamugi" and two years for "somen".