1996 Volume 43 Issue 10 Pages 1098-1104
Wheat noodles containing various amounts of salt and moisture were investigated using 23Na and 1H NMR spectroscopy to elucidate the mobility of sodium and water during drying process. Both longitudinal and transverse relaxation times, T1 and T2, of 23Na did not depend on the amount of salt added, but on the water content. It suggests that the mobility of sodium ion was governed by the interaction with water, probably hydration. For the 1H NMR T1 consisted of two components with long (>300ms) and short (20-60ms) relaxation times. The former decreased with an increase in the water content, while the later increased. When the content of additional salt increased from 6 to 8%, the T1 curve of 1H varied. Although the mechanism of the relaxation has not been disclosed, those behavior of the relaxation time itself could be one of good indices for evaluating the degree of drying and the content of salt.
