Sago starch was used as an ingredient of Chinese noodles to expand its application by substituting part of the required wheat flour and for sprinkling flour. Increasing the substituted amount of sago starch in the dough of the noodles made the boiled sago starch dough firmer and more stretchable than with potato starch. It became clear that the amount of solid eluted in the solution when the noodles were boiled was dramatically decreased when sago starch was used. There was no difference in the amount of eluted solid when compared with that for potato starch when sago starch was used as sprinkling flour. A sensory evaluation indicated that Chinese noodles substituting 10% or 20% of wheat flour with sago starch were significantly more favored than the control sample without sago starch.

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The characteristics of seven types of raw and gelatinized rice flour used in making traditional Japanese sweets, and the effects on the physical properties of nerikiri and uiro caused by different cooking methods were investigated. The physical properties of shiratama- flour and mochi- flour were similar, as were those of joshin- flour and joyo- flour. The temperature that showed the maximum viscosity for shiratama- flour was 75°C, this being lower than that for joshin-flour and most easily gelatinized at that temperature. The physical properties of jonan- flour were similar to those of shiratama- flour and mochi - flour, while kanbai- flour had a lower viscosity and less starchiness. Sweetened an added to gyuhi resulted in, the hardness, cohesiveness, fabrication characteristics and sustainability of nerikiri being dramatically increased. When uiro was mixed at a high temperature, and kuzu starch was used, the rupture properties and rupture energy of uiro both had high values, and a chewy dough resulted.

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The effects of organic acids on the color and texture of cooked white rice mixed with purple-black rice (mixed rice) were examined by using Hinohikari white rice (H-rice) and Murasakinomai purple-black rice (M-rice) polished to 90% and 95%, and unpolished. A 10% (w/w) amount of M-rice was mixed with H-rice and added to distilled water or to a 0.2 M organic acid (acetic, succinic , lactic, malic , or citric acid) in the cooking solution. The L* value was lower in all cooked rice samples with an added organic acid than with distilled water. The a* values of all the mixed rice samples progressively increased with decreasing pH value of the cooking solution, while also progressively increasing with decreasing degree of M-rice polishing in the cooking solution of the same organic acids. The breaking stress of grains in the cooked H-rice and cooked M-rice samples was markedly decreased by adding any organic acid, while the hardness was decreased in all cooked rice samples by adding malic acid or citric acid. The cohesiveness and adhesiveness were markedly increased in all cooked rice samples by adding an organic acid . These results indicate that the color and texture of mixed rice were improved by adding an organic acid to the cooking solution.

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The similarity of taste preferences among family members was investigated by a sensory test of four different seasoned hijikini (a hot dish with seaweed) and a questionnaire survey of their diet. The results of having examined 69 families (277 people) showed, the concordance rate of favourite hijikini between parent and child was higher than that of two people without a family relationship. However, about half of all parent and child relations chose different hijikini from each other, suggesting that the transmission of taste preferences does not occur within the family. The concordance of the taste preference between mother and child was stronger than that between father and child, while the concordance rate for extended families was lower than that for nuclear families. The families without taste-concordance evaluated take-away dishes as better than handmade dishes. The taste-concordant families showed completely the reverse result, suggesting the possibility of a negative influence of familiarity with the commercialized taste on the family transmission of taste preferences. There was no difference between the taste-concordant families and taste-non-concordant families about the self-evaluation of taste preferences and favourite foods.

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Seventeen cucumber-slicing tests were carried out in the first-semester cooking classes for first year students during the period from 1984 through 2011.
The average scores in the 1980s were between 51 and 61 points, and then dropped to the 30 s after 1997. The students could make about thirty slices in 1984 and 1986, and about twenty slices after 2007. Comparing the scores at the beginning and the end of the semester, the average score rose by 10 points from 22.6 to 32.6 as a result of increasing the number of slices from 15 to 20, and of the average length of cut from 3.8 cm to 4.6 cm into thinner slices by 0.2 mm.

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