Effects of Superheated Steam Processing on the Textural and Physical Properties of Asian Noodles

Asian noodles were simultaneously cooked and dried in superheated steam at temperatures from 110 to 150°C and steam velocities of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m/s. Textural and key physical properties of color, breaking stress, and starch gelatinization were measured to ascertain the effects of the superheated steam processing. Textural properties of adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, resilience, and hardness determined from a TPA were found to be generally unaffected by steam velocity. All properties but springiness increased with an increase in processing time. Increasing temperature decreased adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, and resilience but increased hardness and chewiness to a small degree. Processing time greatly affected noodle color, resulting in browning at greater processing times. Results show that velocity was not a significant factor (p > 0.05) on the breaking strength of noodles. Temperature was only significant (p < 0.05) at 110 and 120°C and breaking stress decreased with increasing temperature. There were small decreases in breaking stress with processing time. Combined gelatinization of both amylopectin and amylose was an average of 80.5% for all superheated steam processed samples.