Cooking Quality of Chinese Fresh Noodle

Yan Zhang, Zhonghu He

Institute of Crop Science, CAAS

Outline

Background

Materials and Methods

Results

Summary

Evaluation parameters for cooking quality of Chinese fresh noodle

Traits associated with cooking quality of Chinese fresh noodle

Percentage of wheat foods in China

Food type %

Steamed bread including flat bread 45

Noodles and dumplings 40

Cookies and biscuits 8

Western bread 4

Others 3

Total 100

Background

Approximately 40% of Chinese wheat production is used to produce various

types of noodles.

Noodle quality improvement has become an important objective for wheat

breeding programs in China.

Type %

Fresh noodle (home made) 33

Dry noodle (machine made) 24

Instant noodle (machine made) 21

Fresh noodle (machine made available at store) 13

Extended alkaline noodle (La Mian) 5

Extended noodle (Helu) 2

Frozen noodle and others 2

Total 100

Percentage of various noodles consumed in China

Good Chinese fresh noodle quality is characterized with bright creamy color, flat

and speckless surface, and good eating quality such as medium firmness, elastic

and cohesive, smooth, and aromatic taste.

The texture and eating quality together with color are important parameters for

Chinese noodle quality.

Sensory evaluation parameters and quality performance of

Chinese fresh noodle

Parameter Full score Criterion

Color 15 Bright and creamy

Appearance 10 flat and speckless surface

Firmness 20 medium firmness

Viscoelasticity 30 Elastic, cohesive, and no stick to teeth when chewed

Smoothness 15 Smooth when eaten

Taste 10 aromatic taste

Total 100

Consumer demand

Chinese noodles are typically served in hot soup in China.

Most consumers prefer noodles that retain a degree of

firmness and elasticity in the soup.

It is common for poor quality noodles to become soft and

“mushy” quickly when served in hot soup and overcooking.

The time gap between cooking and consumption of the

noodle obviously affects noodle eating quality.

The requirement for resistance to softening of noodle in hot

soup and retaining noodle firmness after overcooking is also

high in China.

Noodle cooking quality improvement is an important

objective for improving the overall noodle quality in

Chinese wheat cultivars.

Progress in noodle cooking quality

Some foreign studies have focused on assessing the relationships between different

technological and chemical variables and pasta cooking quality. Pasta cooking

quality can be expressed in terms of stickiness, firmness, overcooking tolerance,

water absorption, cooking loss, and TOM value.

Chinese reports indicate that protein property and starch content are significantly

correlated with evaluation parameters for noodle cooking quality such as TOM value,

cooking loss, and water absorption. But it is still not clear which parameter is more

suitable for evaluation noodle cooking quality in Chinese wheat breeding programs.

The aim of this study were to understand the relationship between flour

compositional characteristics and noodle cooking quality and to determine

evaluation parameter for noodle cooking quality in Chinese wheat breeding

programs.

Materials

46 Chinese winter cultivars and advanced lines were used in this study.

Harvested grain samples were free of sprouting damage.

Origin Number

Beijing 8

Hebei 4

Shandong 20

Henan 12

Shannxi 2

Total 46

Testing methods

Grain quality

Hardness

Protein content

60% flour yield

Flour quality

Ash content

Farinograph parameters

Extensograph parameters

RVA parameters

〔

AACC method

Noodle preparation

Mix Sheet Re-sheet

Cooking

→→ →→ →→

Zhang, et al., Euphytica, 2005

Rest

Re-sheet and cut Adjusting Evaluation →→ →→ →→

Noodle cooking quality

TOM value

Total organic matter (TOM), which is the amount of surface material released

from cooked noodle after exhaustive rinsing, was determined by a chemical

method according to D’Egidio et al (1982).

Cooking loss

Cooking loss that is the loss of solids during cooking was determined by

collecting the cooking water following drainage of the noodle for the TOM value

and drying the cooking water overnight.

Cooking loss (%) = the loss of solids weight / uncooked noodle weight

Water absorption test (Cooked noodle weight)

Seven samples consisted of 10 g noodle were cooked in a big boiler containing

2L boiling water for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 min. At given times samples

were removed from the boiler, rapidly blotted, and accurately weighed.

Low TOM value, cooking loss, and cooked noodle weight indicate

high noodle cooking quality

Results

r = 0.66, P <0.01

r = 0.69, P <0.01

16

18

20

22

24

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

TOM value (%)

Co

ok

ed n

oo

dle

wei

gh

t (g

)

6 min cooking time 10 min cooking time

Ar = 0.46, P <0.01

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0

Cooking losses (%)T

OM

valu

e

Relationship among evaluation parameters of noodle cooking quality

r = 0.86, P <0.01

19

20

21

22

23

24

17 18 19 20 21

Cooked noodle weight for 6 min (g)

Co

ok

ed n

oo

dle

wei

gh

t fo

r 1

0 m

in (

g)

TOM value was significantly and positively correlated with cooking losses and cooked noodle

weights for 6 min and 10 min, correlation coefficient between cooked noodle weight for 6 min and 10

min cooking time was 0.86.

The procedure for testing cooked noodle weight was more easier than TOM value and cooking losses.

The cooked noodle weight for 10 min was recommended to be an important parameter for evaluation

of noodle cooking quality.

Cooked noodle weight of samples at different cooking time

15.0

17.0

19.0

21.0

23.0

25.0

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cooking time（min）

cooked noodle weight （g）

Xinong 979

Zhoumai 23

Taikong 6

Linmai 4

Cooked noodle weight of four samples increased significantly as cooking time increased

from 4 to 10 min, viz. noodle cooking quality of that decreased significantly.

Large variations were observed in water sorption of noodle at different cooking time.

Cooked noodle weight for 10 min were more suitable for assessing noodle cooking

quality compared with 6 min.

Noodle cooking quality classification of tested samples

46 tested samples were classified to three groups which were good, fair, and poor

noodle cooking quality based on cooked noodle weight for 10 min.

For 10 g fresh noodle, the cooked noodle weight for 10 min should be no more than

21.0 g for good noodle cooking quality in Chinese wheat samples.

Classification Mean (g)a Rangeb Number of samples

Good 20.57c 19.76~20.95

(≤21.0)

19

Fair 21.37b 21.02~21.94 17

poor 22.62a 22.06~23.46 10

a,b Samples were ranked on cooked noodle weight for 10 min

Relationship between protein content and gluten strength and

parameters of noodle cooking quality

r = -0.63, P <0.01

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 16.0

Protein content (%)

Cooking losses (%)

r = 0.69, P <0.01

19.5

20.5

21.5

22.5

23.5

24.5

0 50 100 150 200

Mixing tolerance index (BU)

No

od

le w

eig

ht

(10

min

,g)

Protein content was significantly and negatively associated with cooking losses

(r = -0.63), and farinogram mixing tolerance index was significantly and positively

correlated with cooked noodle weights (r = 0.69).

Protein content and gluten strength positively contributed to noodle cooking quality.

Relationship between energy and maximum resistance and

parameters of noodle cooking quality

r = -0.63, P <0.01

16.0

17.0

18.0

19.0

20.0

21.0

0 200 400 600 800

Max.resistance (BU)

Co

ok

ed n

oo

dle

wei

gh

t (6

min

,g)

r = -0.66, P<0.01

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

0 50 100 150

Energy（cm2）

TO

M v

alu

e

Energy (r = -0.66) and maximum resistance (r = -0.63) were significantly and

negatively associated with TOM value and cooked noodle weights, respectively.

Flour protein property was the major factor in determining noodle cooking quality.

Relationship between starch pasting property and parameters of

noodle cooking quality

Noodle cooking quality was also affected slightly by starch pasting parameters.

Relationship between gluten strength and starch pasting property

and total score of noodle sensory evaluation

The association between gluten strength and noodle total score fitted quadratic

regression model. This suggests that over strong quality wheat will have

negative effect on Chinese noodle quality.

Starch peak viscosity contributed positively to Chinese noodle quality.

Max resistance (B.U.)

0 200 400 600 800

DW

CN

sco

re

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

Peak viscosity (RVU)

150 200 250 300

DW

CN

sco

re

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

Summary-1

The cooked noodle weight for 10 min was recommended to be an

important parameter for evaluation of noodle cooking quality.

For 10 g fresh noodle, the cooked noodle weight for 10 min should

be no more than 21.0 g for good noodle cooking quality in Chinese

wheat samples.

It is suggested that cooked noodle weight for 10 min should be

measured as well as sensory evaluation Chinese noodle quality for

wheat breeding program.

Summary-2

Flour protein property was the major factor in determining noodle

cooking quality.

Noodle cooking quality was also affected slightly by starch pasting

parameters.

Flour with medium protein content, medium to strong gluten

strength, and starch high peak viscosity are desirable for Chinese

noodle quality.

Acknowledgement

Prof. Jun Yan , Dr. Yonggui Xiao, and

Mr. Desen Wang , providing wheat samples

Funding from the national natural science

foundation of China (31171547) and an

international collaboration project on wheat

improvement from Chinese Ministry of

Agriculture (2011-G3)

谢谢！

Thank you for your attention