Dried Noodles

Instant noodles have become internationally recognized food, and worldwide consumption is on the rise. Quality factors important for instant noodles are color, flavor, and texture, cooking quality, rehydration rates during final preparation, and the presence or absence of rancid taste after extended storage.

Fresh noodle stands are dried by sunlight or in a controlled chamber. Chinese raw noodles, Cantonese noodles, chuka-men, udon noodles, and soba noodles can be in dried form. Noodle shelf life is dramatically extended, but fragile noodles may have handling problems.

Instant dried noodles are produced in a fully automatic production line similar to the type used for steamed and deep-fried noodles, except that a continuous drying chamber replaces the deep fryer, using hot air as the drying medium.

Air drying usually involves multistage processes since too rapid drying causes noodle checking, similar to spaghetti drying. In the first stage, low temperature (15-200 °C) and dry air are applied to reduce the noodle moisture content from 40-45% to 25- 27%.

In the second stage, air of 400 °C and 70-75% relative humidity is used to ensure moisture migration from the interior of the noodle strands to outside surfaces. In the final stage, the product is further dried using cool air.
Dried Noodles