Method and device for drying instant noodles

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for drying non-fried noodles for obtaining non-fried noodles that are easily loosened without sticking of noodle strings and excellent in restorability. The present invention includes, as a step of drying non-fried noodles, a step of putting gelatinized noodle strings into a retainer, the retainer having one or more small holes in a bottom surface thereof so as to give a ratio of the total area of the small holes to the area of the bottom surface of the retainer of 30% or less, or having no small hole in the bottom surface, that is, the retainer having an aperture ratio of 0 to 30%, and blowing a high-speed air flow, preferably having a wind speed of 50 m/s or higher, from above the retainer toward the noodle strings in the retainer.

Claims

1. A method for drying instant noodles, comprising: putting gelatinized noodle strings into a retainer for drying instant noodles, the retainer having one or more small holes in a bottom surface thereof so as to give a ratio of a total area of the small holes to an area of the bottom surface of the retainer of 30% or less, or having no small hole in the bottom surface, blowing a high-speed air flow from above the retainer, and lifting the noodle strings from contact with the retainer by the high-speed air flow blown from above the retainer, wherein the high-speed air flow has a wind speed of 50 m/s or higher in terms of the speed to which the noodle strings in the retainer are exposed, and the noodle strings are dried with the high-speed air flow until the water content of the noodle strings is reduced to 30% or less.

2. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 1, wherein the drying is performed while the noodle strings are lifted and agitated to be loosened in the retainer by the high-speed air flow.

3. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 1, wherein the high-speed air flow is a hot air flow having a high temperature of 100 C. to 150 C. in terms of the temperature to which the noodle strings are exposed.

4. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 1, further comprising drying the noodle strings by a different drying method after the blowing the high-speed air flow.

5. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 1, further comprising reflecting at least a portion of the high-speed air flow off of the retainer, wherein the reflected portion of the high-speed air flow lifts the noodle strings from contact with the retainer.

6. A method for drying instant noodles, comprising: putting gelatinized noodle strings into a retainer for drying instant noodles, the retainer having one or more small holes in a bottom surface thereof so as to give a ratio of a total area of the small holes to an area of the bottom surface of the retainer of 30% or less, or having no small hole in the bottom surface, blowing a high-speed air flow from above the retainer, and lifting the noodle strings from contact with the retainer by the high-speed air flow blown from above the retainer, wherein the high-speed air flow has a wind speed of 50 m/s or higher in terms of the speed to which the noodle strings in the retainer are exposed, and the noodle strings are dried with the high-speed air flow until the water content of the noodle strings is reduced to about 30%.

7. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 6, wherein the drying is performed while the noodle strings are lifted and agitated to be loosened in the retainer by the high-speed air flow.

8. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 6, wherein the high-speed air flow is a hot air flow having a high temperature of 100 C. to 150 C. in terms of the temperature to which the noodle strings are exposed.

9. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 6, further comprising drying the noodle strings by a different drying method after the blowing the high-speed air flow.

10. The method for drying instant noodles according to claim 6, further comprising reflecting at least a portion of the high-speed air flow off of the retainer, wherein the reflected portion of the high-speed air flow lifts the noodle strings from contact with the retainer.

Description

EXAMPLES

Experiment 1: Test for Aperture Ratio

(1) As a main ingredient, 150 g of starch was added to 850 g of wheat flour. Then, 20 g of salt, 3 g of brine, and 1 g of polyphosphate were dissolved in 400 ml of water and the solution was added to the main ingredient. The ingredients were sufficiently kneaded by a mixer, and formed into a dough sheet with a thickness of 12 mm by a composite dough sheet machine. The dough sheet was passed through continuous rolling rollers to give a final dough sheet thickness of 1.8 mm. The dough sheet was cut out by a cutter blade roll with a square cutter (No. 16) into strings, thereby obtaining raw noodle strings.

(2) The cut out raw noodle strings were conveyed on a net conveyor, steamed with saturated steam at a rate of 240 kg/h, at about 100 C. for 2 minutes, and subsequently boiled with boiling water for 10 seconds. The resulting gelatinized noodle strings were immersed in a liquid seasoning containing 5% of salt and a small amount of a flavoring dissolved therein for several seconds, after which the noodle strings were cut into one meal portion (180 g), and the one meal portion was put into a retainer.

Example 1

(3) A retainer having the following specifications was used: a volume of about 450 cc, an opening diameter of the retainer (diameter of the upper side of the retainer) of 137 mm, a height of 40 mm, and a taper angle (the angle between the plane perpendicular to the bottom surface and the side surface spreading outward) of 20, wherein small holes formed in the bottom surface of the retainer had a diameter of 4.0 mm and were substantially uniformly distributed in the entire bottom surface, and the ratio of the total area of the small holes to the area of the bottom surface of the retainer was 20% (Example 1), or 58% (as in a conventional common retainer; Comparative Example 1) (%: aperture ratio). The retainer as described above was allowed to travel horizontally at a traveling speed of about 2.5 m/s in a drying chamber where a high-temperature and high-speed air flow was blown so that the retainer was subjected to drying. In the drying machine, about 240 narrow tubular nozzles are disposed per 1 m.sup.2 of the ceiling thereof, and the high-temperature and high-speed air flow is injected from the nozzles.

(4) The drying temperature was 140 C. as measured by a sensor placed at an outlet of the nozzle. The wind speed was adjusted to 70 m/s as measured by a pitot tube disposed near the upper surface of the noodle mass, and the air flow was blown for 72 seconds.

(5) Subsequently, for finish drying, the noodle mass was dried while kept contained in each retainer in an ordinary hot-air drying machine at an inside temperature of 90 C. and a wind speed of 4.0 m/s for 60 minutes. The noodle mass after dried had a weight of approximately 90 g.

(6) To the instant noodle mass produced in this manner was poured 400 ml of boiling water, and the noodle mass was left for 4 minutes before eating. As a result, the noodle mass prepared by using the retainer with an aperture ratio of 20% in Example 1 according to the present invention was significantly improved in loosening of noodle strings at the time of eating, as compared to that prepared by using the conventional retainer with an aperture ratio of 58% in Comparative Example 1.

Examples 2, 3 and 4

(7) For investigation of the relationship between the aperture ratio of the retainer and the loosening of noodle strings, a comparative experiment was carried out using retainers having the same volume and general shape as those described above, but having different ratios of the total area of small holes to the area of the bottom surface of the retainer (aperture ratio) between 10 and 58%, and a radius of curvature R of the transition portion (corner portion) from the bottom surface to the side surface (side wall) of the retainer of 10 mm (R=10 mm).

(8) The retainers used in this experiment were the same as that in Example 1 as described above, that is, the small holes formed in the bottom surface of the retainer had a diameter of 4.0 mm and were substantially uniformly distributed in the entire bottom surface, except that the retainers had different aperture ratios and a radius of curvature of the transition portion from the bottom surface to the side surface of the retainer of 10 mm (in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, the retainer had the bottom surface intersecting with the side wall surface with an apex to form an internal corner portion). The retainers having ratios of the total area of small holes to the area of the bottom surface of the retainer of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 58% were used in Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, and Comparative Example 2, respectively. The drying device, the drying method and conditions were the same as in Example 1.

(9) The results are shown in Table 1. In the results, with the retainer having an aperture ratio of 10%, the finish drying was insufficient. But in this case, for example, if the time for finish drying is extended, or a retainer having a general aperture ratio is used for finish drying, then a preferable noodle mass that has been sufficiently dried is obtained.

(10) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Loosening of noodle Aperture strings at ratio the time of Evaluation (%) eating for shape Comments 10 5 5 Excellent in shape and loosening of noodle strings, but the finish drying performed later is not sufficient with this retainer. 20 5 5 Most preferable state. 30 3 3 Sticking of the noodle strings is slightly observed, but improved as compared to the case of an aperture ratio of 58%. 58 2 2 Noodles do not leap in the high-temperature and high- speed air flow, loosening of noodle strings is poor, and the noodle mass has a high density of noodle strings in its lower part.

(11) The evaluations on a 5-point scale were made by five panelists. The panelists ate the noodles after pouring 400 ml of boiling water onto the noodle mass and leaving it for 4 minutes.

(12) The evaluation for the loosening of noodle strings at the time of eating was made based on the criteria as follows; point 5: the noodle state capable of being loosened very easily, point 4: the noodle state capable of being loosened easily with chopsticks, point 3: the noodle state capable of being loosened with chopsticks, point 2: the noodle state of being partially hard to loosen with chopsticks, and point 1: the noodle state of being hard to loosen with chopsticks due to heavy sticking of the noodle strings. The evaluation for shape was made by confirmation before the pour of boiling water, based on the criteria as follows; point 5: the preferable state of being bulky and entirely uniform, point 3: the state of being not especially high in density of noodle strings in an angular part or the like of the noodle mass, with no great problem in restorability expected, and point 1: the state of being very high in density of noodle strings in the lower part of the noodle mass, with poor rehydration expected.

Experiment 2: Test for Wind Speed>

(13) Next, the wind speed of the air flow blown to noodles for obtaining a noodle mass that is easily loosened was changed to 30 m/s to 70 m/s for carrying out Experiment 2, with use of the retainer having an aperture ratio of 20% which was used for Example 3 in Experiment 1. Other conditions including the device used, the temperature, and the drying time were all the same as in Experiment 1. The results are shown in Table 2. In this experiment, the evaluation for shape was made by actually measuring the height of a noodle mass according to the following method.

(14) Method for measuring height of noodle mass: measurement was made for three positions at 30 mm from the center of the noodle mass, as well as for six positions at 15 mm from the center of the noodle mass, and the average of the measurements was calculated as the height of the noodle mass.

(15) The results from the experiment indicated that the optimal wind speed varies according to the noodle weight. In the case of the wind speed of 60 m/s, when the experiment was carried out using one meal portion of the noodle mass having a slightly lighter weight (weight of the noodles put into the retainer) of 170 g, there was provided a noodle mass that is very easily loosened (point 5).

(16) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Evaluation for shape Loosening (mm) of noodle Wind Height of strings at speed noodle mass the time of (m/s) (average) eating Comments 30 22.5 2 Poor loosening of noodle strings with sticking. 40 23.1 2 Poor loosening of noodle strings with sticking. 50 24.4 3 Partial sticking of noodle strings is observed, but sticking is much improved compared to the case of 40 m/s. 60 24.9 4 Partial sticking of noodle strings is observed, but sticking is further improved compared to the case of 50 m/s. 70 27.0 5 Excellent loosening of noodle strings without sticking.

Experiment 3: Test for Temperature

(17) The wind speed was set to 70 m/s and the temperature of the blown air flow was changed to 60 C. to 160 C. for carrying out Experiment 3, with use of the retainer having an aperture ratio of 20% which was used for Example 3 in Experiment 1. Other conditions including the device used, the wind speed, the drying time, and the finish drying were all the same as in Example 3. The results are shown in Table 3.

(18) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Evaluation for shape Loosening (mm) of noodle Height of strings at Temperature noodle mass the time of ( C.) (average) eating Comments 60 27.0 4 Rawish taste, somewhat lacking in cooked feeling 80 27.6 4 Rawish taste, somewhat lacking in cooked feeling 100 27.4 5 Cooked feeling in texture 120 27.5 5 Cooked feeling in texture 140 27.2 5 Cooked feeling in texture 160 27.1 4 Good texture, with slight sticking of the noodle strings

Example 5

(19) In accordance with the same formulation and method as those for Example 3 in Experiment 1 as described above, raw noodle strings were prepared and then similarly gelatinized so that gelatinized noodle strings were prepared. The gelatinized noodle strings were immersed in a liquid seasoning containing 5% of salt and a small amount of a flavoring dissolved therein for several seconds, and the noodle strings were cut. About 180 g of the cut noodle strings were put into a retainer similar to that in Example 3, having an aperture ratio of 20%, a radius of curvature R of the transition portion from the bottom surface to the side surface of the retainer of 10 mm, and a volume of 450 cc. Then, in the same drying device as in Example 3, the high-temperature and high-speed air flow was injected from the nozzle above the retainer and blown to the noodle mass in the retainer at a wind speed of up to 70 m/s as measured by a pitot tube disposed near the upper surface of the noodle mass.

(20) It should be noted that in Example 5 drying was performed by not utilizing the combination of the drying with the high-temperature and high-speed air flow and the general drying with the hot-air as in Example 3, but only by the drying with the high-temperature and high-speed air flow. Specifically, drying was performed at 155 C. for initial 60 seconds, then at 130 C. for subsequent 60 seconds, and at 110 C. for further 13 minutes, as measured by a thermometer disposed near the outlet of the nozzle. Also by the method in Example 5, there were provided noodles that are increased in bulkiness, much more easily loosened and improved in texture as compared to those in Comparative Example 2.

Example 6

(21) In accordance with the same formulation and method as those for Example 3 in Experiment 1 as described above, raw noodle strings were prepared and then similarly gelatinized so that gelatinized noodle strings were prepared. The gelatinized noodle strings were immersed in a liquid seasoning containing 5% of salt and a small amount of a flavoring dissolved therein for several seconds, and the noodle strings were cut. About 180 g of the cut noodle strings were put into a retainer almost similar to that in Example 3 in outer shape, having a volume of about 450 cc and a radius of curvature R of the transition portion from the bottom surface to the side surface of the retainer of 10 mm, but no small hole in the bottom surface, that is, an aperture ratio of 0%. Then, in the same drying device as in Example 3, the high-temperature and high-speed air flow of 140 C. was injected from the nozzle above the retainer and blown to the noodle mass in the retainer for 72 seconds at a wind speed of up to 50 m/s as measured by a pitot tube disposed near the upper surface of the noodle mass.

(22) Since it takes a long time to perform drying with the retainer having no small hole in the bottom surface, that is, a retainer having an aperture ratio of 0%, the noodle mass was transferred to a retainer having an aperture ratio of 20% as in Example 3 immediately after the 72-second treatment. Subsequently, for finish drying, the noodle mass was dried in an ordinary hot-air drying machine at an inside temperature of 90 C. and a wind speed of 4.0 m/s for 60 minutes in the same manner as the finish drying in Example 3. The noodle mass after dried had a weight of approximately 90 g. Also by the method in Example 6, there were provided noodles that are more easily loosened and improved in texture as compared to those in Comparative Example 2.