Determination of Torsional Strength of Dried Japanese Noodles

Abstract

Torsional strength of dried japanese noodles were determined by a specially made pendulum type tester. The high negative correlation between the moisture content and the torsional strength of the noodles was shown. Thus, it was necessary to determine the torsional strength by fixing appropriate moisture basis percentage; it was fixed to 13.5% in this experiment. The dried noodles on the market whose torsional strength were over 70kg/cmcm² had not any vertical crack (a partial split), while more than 50% of dried noodles whose strength were below 60kg/cmcm² had cracks. Furthermore, it has been investigated that those noodles, moisture of which being carefully controlled in the manufacturing process, showed the increasing torsional strength during the storage, while those without careful moisture control showed gradual decrease of the strength even if they had as high as 100kg/cmcm² immediately after the manufacturing. In the latter case, noodles may or may not get cracked afterwards. It was concluded that determination of the torsional strength of the noodles can use as an index for the evaluation of the quality of the dried noodles.