Rice Noodle Processing

Rice Noodle Processing
Rice noodles are widely consumed in China, Japan and Southeast Asia countries since ancient times. The raw material for rice noodle is nonglutinous rice, which is highly elastic and sticky. The use of nonglutinous rice enables easy extrusion of the dough. Like noodles, this rice should not stick together or break. The yield from the rice is about 95%.

The conventional processing method is limited largely to sun drying. There are exceptions using hot-air drying.

Rice noodles in Japan are sometimes called harusame. In China, the noodle made from mung bean or starch other than rice is called fung-Shu (or tong-fun). The differences between these two kinds of noodles are the raw materials and also tong sun is more transparent. The Chinese noodle after extrusion should be frozen and then dried. It can also be cooked for a longer time without becoming pasty.

Instant rice noodles are a specialty developed in Taiwan. The processing method for instant rice noodles is almost identical to that for the conventional rice noodles, except that instant noodles can be easily reconstituted in hot water in just a few minutes. To attain the quick reconstitution characteristic, the steamed rice should be dried at a high temperature to prevent the gelatinous starch from reverting to raw starch. Normally, hot air at a temperature of 80 degree C is used for drying, but some plants are using frying instead of hot-air drying in a tunnel drier.

Nonglutinous rice (preferably 92% milled rice) is soaked in water for 2- 4 hr, ground and mashed into a rice paste, which is then pressed to force out the excess water. This product is steam for 80 min, then kneaded and shaped into a column from which raw rice noodle is extruded. The raw rice noodle is steamed for 30 min, dipped into high temperature higher than 80 degree C. The final product (instant rice noodle) is then cooled and packaged.
Rice Noodle Processing