Japanese thick wheat noodles

Japanese thick wheat noodles or udon are made from combining wheat flour with salted water. These thick noodles are available fresh, frozen or dried.

Japanese thick wheat noodles are similar to cu mian or thick Chinese wheat noodles. White in color, sold dried, the noodles are usually flat and are available in round or square, individual portion-size bundles, resembling bird’s nest.

In its fresh form, it’s known as yude udon. The noodles are actually precooked and only need 10 seconds in boiling water to be reheated before serving in broth. It can be served hot or cold, often with topping of tempura or deep-fried tofu.
Japanese thick wheat noodles

Flour for Japanese noodles

Japanese noodle flour must be prepared so that it has the characteristics that suit the preferences of Japanese consumers. Japanese eating habits have been influenced mainly by rice, leading to the so-called ‘rice culture’.

Noodles can be made from either red wheat or white wheat. However, white wheat has an advantage over red wheat for making noodles because the bran specks from the white wheat are less conspicuous.

The characteristics of noodles are related to the flour type used for noodle dough. Flour rather rich in gluten - either all purpose or bread flour is used for wheat noodles.

Wheat protein content is an important determinant of noodle quality. As flour protein increases, noodle firmness increases.

Soft wheat is used for Japanese white salted noodles, whereas hard wheat is used for yellow alkaline noodles.

The hardness of wheat has an influence on the milling process. The particle size of soft wheat flour is finer than hard wheat flour and generally, soft wheat flour is lower in protein content than hard wheat flour.

Numerous researchers have provided evidence that moderately high swelling wheat starch in flour is important to the quality of Japanese salt noodles. By contrast, wheat flours with low swelling starch are preferred for alkaline noodles in Japan.
Flour for Japanese noodles

The texture of noodles

Texture is a sensory characteristic. The sensory signals of texture perceived by the consumer are derived from the interactions of the structural, physical, and geometrical properties of the food with the hands and mouth during handling and eating.

Szczesnaik in 1963 classified the textural characteristics of food into mechanical and geometric properties and those related to the fat and moisture content of food.

Texture of noodles is one of the important attributes that are judged while evaluating wheat varieties for any noodle making. It is one of the key quality factors that affect consumer acceptability of the product, other than color.

Chinese raw noodle should be hard and elastic in bite with stable texture in hot water whereas a soft and elastic texture is preferred in the case of Japanese udon noodles.

Alkaline Japanese ‘ramen’ noodles should be firm springy, not sticky and smooth.

All the quality attributes of wheat flour noodles, including their texture, depend primarily on the characteristics of the wheat flour used as a raw material. The wheat chosen for milling should be clean, plump, predominantly free from defects and sound.

Addition of alkaline agents improves the textile of the cooked product or noodles, making it more chewy with less of the tendency to soften and paste after cooking.

Water absorption levels used during mixing, noodle aging, cooking time and cooling water temperature all influence the texture of the final noodle.
The texture of noodles