Glass noodle with low cross-linked pea starch

Abstract

The present invention is relative to an extruded oriental noodle, consisting essentially of a starch and water, characterized in that the starch used in the preparation of the noodle is low cross-linked pea starch.

Claims

1. An extruded oriental noodle, consisting essentially of a starch and water, characterized in that the starch used in the preparation of the noodle is a phosphate reticulated pea starch having a phosphorus content between 5 mg to 10 mg per kg of crude starch.

2. The extruded oriental noodle of claim 1, wherein the gelatinization temperature of the starch used in the preparation of the noodle is 75.4° C.

3. The extruded oriental noodle of claim 1, wherein the gelatinization temperature of the starch used in the preparation of the noodle is between 74.9° C. and 75.9° C.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 depicts a comparison of glass noodle texture.

(2) FIG. 2 depicts changing of glass noodle hardness in a cooking process.

(3) FIG. 3 depicts changing of water content in glass noodles.

(4) FIG. 4 depicts a comparison of the color of the noodles.

(5) FIG. 5 depicts a comparison of glass noodle texture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) Glass noodle is an “Asian starch based noodle” that is traditionally made with 100% mung bean starch.

(7) As development of food culture, glass noodle manufacturers may change partially the ingredient to pea starch or potato starch, in order to cut down the cost.

(8) They propose “Low price” or “Normal” types glass noodle made with mix of pea starch and mung bean starch besides the Premium Type that contains only mung bean starch.

(9) However, the Applicant has noted that the quality obtained with either the Low price type or the Normal type is far away from that of Premium type.

(10) The following table reflects the texture and cooking resistance obtained.

(11) TABLE-US-00001 Low price type Normal type Premium type Ingredients Pea starch Pea starch Mung bean Mung bean starch Mung bean starch starch Color Product White White White Cooked Dark and dull Little dull Clear and white Texture Sticky strong Low sticky Water uptake Equivalent Diameter Increase to 145% Increase to 162% Increase to 200% change Cooking + ++ +++ resistance

(12) Thus, it is observed that for example on diameter change of noodle string, if all the glass noodles increased their diameter by water uptake, the increasing ratio depends on noodle ingredients.

(13) More particularly, the Premium type shows significantly increased ratio of diameters.

(14) The Low price type shows soft texture, earlier than others in boiling water, and doesn't have enough over cooking resistance, compared with Normal and Premium types.

(15) The Normal type presents less over cooking resistance compared with Premium type.

(16) Thus the glass noodle with pea starch mixed with mung bean starch shows not acceptable textures.

(17) In order to propose new pea starch that can advantageously and economically replace noodles with only mung bean starch, the Applicant carried on numerous experiments to test modified starches, and more particularly cross-linked pea starches.

(18) As native pea starches have poor functional properties such as low shear and acid resistance, low thermal stability and high retrogradation tendency, it is known that modification of pea starches is necessary to tailor-make their specific functional properties, e.g. desirable digestion-resistance, to develop novel functional food ingredients and functional foods.

(19) Cross-linking modifications generally utilize multifunctional reagents to form either ether or ester intermolecular or intramolecular cross-links between the hydroxyl groups on adjacent starch chains. Sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP), sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), phosphoryl chloride (phosphorus oxychloride: POCI3), epichlorohydrin (EPI), and adipic-acetic mixed anhydride are the common agents employed to produce cross-linked starches.

(20) Optimal reactive conditions and schemes vary according to reagent type.

(21) For reactions with STMP and/or STPP, starch is generally impregnated with both reagent and catalyzing base within an aqueous granule slurry.

(22) The most popularly used food-grade cross-linking reagent for starch is 99:1 (w/w) STMP/STPP owing to its high phosphorylating efficiency.

(23) The phosphorus in modified starch for food use is regulated by the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR, 2001) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or by the Directive of the EEC (2000). If STMP/STPP is used to phosphorylate starch for food use, the modified starch cannot contain more than 0.4% phosphorus.

(24) Based on the phosphorus content, the degree of substitution (DS) for phosphate monoester and phosphate diester can be calculated accordingly.

(25) The phosphorus content in cross-linked starched can also be determined by Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (EDXRF) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES).

(26) In the present invention, the applicant decided to test various quality of cross-linked starch, with different levels of phosphorylation to substitute with mung bean starch to improve cooking resistance.

(27) The applicant found that to do so, there are two important parameters to take into account: The content of amylose of this particular starch; Its gelatinized temperature.

(28) On the first point, as mung bean starch contains 30 to 35% of amylose, pea starch with its 35% of amylose content is the best choice.

(29) On the second point, the Applicant found that the level of modification has to increase the gelatinized temperature of pea starch to improve its cooking resistance, and found that it could be advantageously increased by about 2° C., more advantageously between 1.5° C. and 2.5° C.

(30) To determine this value of about 2 degrees, two cross-linked pea starches were tested: Cross-linked pea starch “A”: a low cross-linked pea starch, produced classically (starch slurry treated with 0.0385% w/w STMP) so that its phosphorus content is 5 mg to 10 mg per kg of crude starch. Its gelatinized temperature is 75.4° C. Cross-linked pea starch “B”: a low cross-linked pea starch, produced classically (starch slurry treated with 0.6% w/w STMP) so that its phosphorus content is 130 mg to 150 mg per kg of crude starch. Its gelatinized temperature is 95° C.

(31) As a comparison, the gelatinized temperature of native pea starch is around 73.4° C. and the gelatinized temperature of mung bean pea starch is around 66.95° C. (values determined by analysis of the standard RVA profiles of these respective starches).

(32) The low cross-linked pea starch useful for the present invention is a pea starch with a phosphorus content below 20 mg per kg of crude starch.

(33) As it will be exemplified after, the range of phosphorus or phosphorus content in the cross-linked pea starch to replace mung bean starch for cooking resistance is more advantageously between 5 to 10 mg per kg of crude starch.

EXAMPLES

(34) This invention will be better understood in light of the following examples which are given for illustrative purposes only and do not intend to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the attached claims.

Example 1

(35) Recipe:

(36) TABLE-US-00002 Cross- Cross- Mung bean linked pea linked pea starch starch “A” starch “B” Native Pea Phase A Mung bean starch 10 Cross-linked pea starch “A” 10 Cross-linked pea starch “B” 10 Native pea starch 10 Water 15 15 15 15 Phase B Boiling water 140 140 140 140 Phase C Cold water 30 85 85 60 Mung bean starch 200 Acetylated pea starch “A” 200 Acetylated pea starch “B” 200 Native pea starch 200 Total 395 450 450 450 *Water volume was determined, to adjust the dough hardness of these recipes.

(37) Method of Manufacturing Glass Noodle Without Freeze: Make starch slurry by mix Phase A starch with water, Add boiling water (140 ml, Phase B) and mix 5 min with hand-mixer (820 rpm), Add phase C to starch slurry, and mix at 61 rpm for 1 min, then mix at 113 rpm for 10 min, Pump the dough and extrude through a 2.5 mm in diameter nozzle , and boil 10 sec, Cool in icy cold water for 5 min, Air dry at 80° C. for 1 hour.

(38) Cooking and Texture Analysis boil the noodle in a cup with 500 ml boiling water, wait for 2 min, store the noodle in the fridge at 4° C., and check the noodle texture after 1 day, 4 days, 8 days, 12 days and 16 days by using a Texture Analyzer SHIMADZU EZ-SX following the operative guidelines of the manufacturer with the following conditions: Time: 1 Plunger: tooth shape chip Speed: 3 mm/min Sample size: 1 string

Results

(39) Noodle Texture: Hardness and Softness (See FIG. 1).

(40) The textures of the noodles thus obtained were compared (all having been cooked/boiled during 6 minutes).

(41) It was observed that the glass noodle with Cross-linked pea starch “A” shows harder and stronger texture than that of Mung bean starch, and the glass noodle with native pea starch shows harder and stronger texture than that of Mung bean starch, but less than that of Cross-linked pea starch “A”.

(42) It was not possible to obtain glass noodle with Cross-linked pea starch “B” showing that the choice of reticulation level is of utmost importance for this application.

(43) Noodle Texture: Cooking Resistance (See FIG. 2).

(44) In order to compare the cooking resistance, peak hardness of cooked glass noodles was plotted every 2 minutes.

(45) In this evaluation, we defined that the noodle hardness which is proper to eat is 0.2-0.7N.

(46) Cross-linked pea starch “A” maintains the proper hardness for a long time (about 9 times longer or more, compared with Mung bean starch), showing its remarkable property.

(47) Water Absorption:

(48) The water content of each glass noodle in cooking process was also compared (Cf. FIG. 3).

(49) Thus, the glass noodle with Cross-linked pea starch “A” shows slow water absorption, compared with other starches.

(50) Noodle Color:

(51) The color of the noodles was compared (cf. FIG. 4).

(52) The color of the noodles with Cross-linked pea starch “A” looks like the noodles of Mung bean starch.

(53) It indicates that the replacement of Mung bean with Cross-linked pea starch “A” enables increasd noodle cooking resistance without changing of color.

Example 2

(54) In this example, we compare the performance of Cross-linked pea starch “A” versus mung bean starch.

(55) TABLE-US-00003 Cross- Mung bean linked pea starch Pea starch “A” Phase Mung bean starch 10 A Native pea starch 10 10 Water 15 15 15 Phase Boiling water 140 140 140 B Phase Cold water 30 60 60 C Mung bean starch 200 Native pea starch 200 Cross-linked pea starch “A” 200 Total 395 425 425

(56) Method of Manufacturing Glass Noodle With Freeze Step: Make starch slurry by mix Phase A starch with water, Add boiling water (140 ml, Phase B) and mix 5 min with hand-mixer (820 rpm), Add phase C to starch slurry, and mix at 61 rpm for 1 min, then mix at 113 rpm for 10 min, Pump the dough and extrude through a 2.5 mm in diameter nozzle, and boil 30 sec, Cool in icy cold water for 5 min, Rinse in water and freeze it at −20° C. for 1 day, Thaw a frozen glass noodle by water flow for 30 min, Put Into a mold, Then air dry at 80° C. for 1 hour.

(57) Cooking and Texture Analysis Put glass noodle in a cup, and pour 500 ml of boiled water. wait for 3 min, measure the texture by using a Texture Analyzer SHIMADZU EZ-SX following the operative guidelines of the manufacturer with the following conditions: Time: 1 Plunger: tooth shape chip Speed: 3 mm/min Sample size: 1 string

Results

(58) Effect of Modification Against Instant Glass Noodle Texture (cf. FIG. 5)

(59) To compare the behavior in term of brittle texture, we evaluate by using method of manufacturing glass noodle with freeze step described previously.

(60) Cross-linked pea starch “A” alters glass noodle texture hardly over mung bean starch, meaning that Cross-linked pea starch “A” confers better cooking resistance properties.

(61) Noodle with native pea starch shows weaker and more brittle texture than Noodle with Mung bean starch. In other words, noodle with native pea starch doesn't have cooking resistance, or weaker than noodle with Mung beans starch. Therefore it confirms the benefit of modification of cross-linking on Pea starch.