This document summarizes research on evaluating the cooking quality of Chinese fresh noodles. It finds that the cooked noodle weight after 10 minutes of cooking is a good parameter for assessment. Noodles of good quality absorbed less water, retaining a weight of 21 grams or less for 10 grams of fresh noodles. Flour protein content and gluten strength positively impacted cooking quality, while starch pasting properties had a smaller effect. Flour with medium protein, gluten strength, and starch viscosity produced the best quality noodles according to sensory tests.

1. Cooking Quality of Chinese Fresh Noodle
Yan Zhang, Zhonghu He
Institute of Crop Science, CAAS

2. Outline
 Background
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Evaluation parameters for cooking quality of Chinese fresh noodle
 Traits associated with cooking quality of Chinese fresh noodle
 Summary

3. Background
Percentage of wheat foods in China
Food type %
Steamed bread including flat bread 45
Noodles and dumplings 40
Cookies and biscuits 8
Western bread 4
Others 3
Total 100
 Approximately 40% of Chinese wheat production is used to produce various
types of noodles.
 Noodle quality improvement has become an important objective for wheat
breeding programs in China.

4. Percentage of various noodles consumed in China
Type %
Fresh noodle (home made) 33
Dry noodle (machine made) 24
Instant noodle (machine made) 21
Fresh noodle (machine made available at store) 13
Extended alkaline noodle (La Mian) 5
Extended noodle (Helu) 2
Frozen noodle and others 2
Total 100

5. Sensory evaluation parameters and quality performance of
Chinese fresh noodle
Parameter Full score Criterion
Color 15 Bright and creamy
Appearance 10 flat and speckless surface
Firmness 20 medium firmness
Viscoelasticity 30 Elastic, cohesive, and no stick
to teeth when chewed
Smoothness 15 Smooth when eaten
Taste 10 aromatic taste
Total 100
 Good Chinese fresh noodle quality is characterized with bright creamy color, flat
and speckless surface, and good eating quality such as medium firmness, elastic
and cohesive, smooth, and aromatic taste.
 The texture and eating quality together with color are important parameters for
Chinese noodle quality.

6. Consumer demand
 Chinese noodles are typically served in hot soup in China.
Most consumers prefer noodles that retain a degree of
firmness and elasticity in the soup.
 It is common for poor quality noodles to become soft and
“mushy” quickly when served in hot soup and overcooking.
The time gap between cooking and consumption of the
noodle obviously affects noodle eating quality.
 The requirement for resistance to softening of noodle in hot
soup and retaining noodle firmness after overcooking is also
high in China.
 Noodle cooking quality improvement is an important
objective for improving the overall noodle quality in
Chinese wheat cultivars.

7. Progress in noodle cooking quality
 Some foreign studies have focused on assessing the relationships between different
technological and chemical variables and pasta cooking quality. Pasta cooking
quality can be expressed in terms of stickiness, firmness, overcooking tolerance,
water absorption, cooking loss, and TOM value.
 Chinese reports indicate that protein property and starch content are significantly
correlated with evaluation parameters for noodle cooking quality such as TOM value,
cooking loss, and water absorption. But it is still not clear which parameter is more
suitable for evaluation noodle cooking quality in Chinese wheat breeding programs.
 The aim of this study were to understand the relationship between flour
compositional characteristics and noodle cooking quality and to determine
evaluation parameter for noodle cooking quality in Chinese wheat breeding
programs.

8. Materials
Origin Number
Beijing 8
Hebei 4
Shandong 20
Henan 12
Shannxi 2
Total 46
 46 Chinese winter cultivars and advanced lines were used in this study.
 Harvested grain samples were free of sprouting damage.

9. Testing methods
 Grain quality
Hardness
Protein content
60% flour yield
 Flour quality
Ash content 〔
Farinograph parameters AACC method
Extensograph parameters
RVA parameters

10. Noodle preparation
Mix →→ Sheet →→ Rest →→ Re-sheet
Adjusting →→ Re-sheet and cut →→ Cooking →→ Evaluation
Zhang, et al., Euphytica, 2005

11. Noodle cooking quality
 TOM value
Total organic matter (TOM), which is the amount of surface material released
from cooked noodle after exhaustive rinsing, was determined by a chemical
method according to D’Egidio et al (1982).
 Cooking loss
Cooking loss that is the loss of solids during cooking was determined by
collecting the cooking water following drainage of the noodle for the TOM value
and drying the cooking water overnight.
Cooking loss (%) = the loss of solids weight / uncooked noodle weight
 Water absorption test (Cooked noodle weight)
Seven samples consisted of 10 g noodle were cooked in a big boiler containing
2L boiling water for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 min. At given times samples
were removed from the boiler, rapidly blotted, and accurately weighed.
Low TOM value, cooking loss, and cooked noodle weight indicate
high noodle cooking quality

12. Results
6 min cooking time 10 min cooking time
2.5
Cooked noodle weight for 10 min (g)
24
A
24
Cooked noodle weight (g)
r = 0.69, P <0.01 2.0 r = 0.46, P <0.01 r = 0.86, P <0.01
23
TOM value
22 1.5
22
20 1.0
21
18 0.5
20
r = 0.66, P <0.01
16 0.0 19
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 17 18 19 20 21
T OM value (%) Cooking losses (%) Cooked noodle weight for 6 min (g)
Relationship among evaluation parameters of noodle cooking quality
 TOM value was significantly and positively correlated with cooking losses and cooked noodle
weights for 6 min and 10 min, correlation coefficient between cooked noodle weight for 6 min and 10
min cooking time was 0.86.
 The procedure for testing cooked noodle weight was more easier than TOM value and cooking losses.
 The cooked noodle weight for 10 min was recommended to be an important parameter for evaluation
of noodle cooking quality.

13. Cooked noodle weight of samples at different cooking time
25.0
cooked noodle weight （g）
23.0
Xinong 979
21.0
Zhoumai 23
19.0
Taikong 6
17.0 Linmai 4
15.0
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Cooking time（min）
 Cooked noodle weight of four samples increased significantly as cooking time increased
from 4 to 10 min, viz. noodle cooking quality of that decreased significantly.
 Large variations were observed in water sorption of noodle at different cooking time.
 Cooked noodle weight for 10 min were more suitable for assessing noodle cooking
quality compared with 6 min.

14. Noodle cooking quality classification of tested samples
Classification Mean (g)a Rangeb Number of samples
Good 20.57c 19.76~20.95 19
(≤21.0)
Fair 21.37b 21.02~21.94 17
poor 22.62a 22.06~23.46 10
a,b Samples were ranked on cooked noodle weight for 10 min
 46 tested samples were classified to three groups which were good, fair, and poor
noodle cooking quality based on cooked noodle weight for 10 min.
 For 10 g fresh noodle, the cooked noodle weight for 10 min should be no more than
21.0 g for good noodle cooking quality in Chinese wheat samples.

15. Relationship between protein content and gluten strength and
parameters of noodle cooking quality
8.0 24.5
r = -0.63, P <0.01
Noodle weight (10 min,g)
Cooking losses (%)
7.0 23.5 r = 0.69, P <0.01
6.0 22.5
5.0 21.5
4.0 20.5
3.0 19.5
11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 16.0 0 50 100 150 200
Mixing tolerance index (BU)
Protein content (%)
 Protein content was significantly and negatively associated with cooking losses
(r = -0.63), and farinogram mixing tolerance index was significantly and positively
correlated with cooked noodle weights (r = 0.69).
 Protein content and gluten strength positively contributed to noodle cooking quality.

16. Relationship between energy and maximum resistance and
parameters of noodle cooking quality
21.0
Cooked noodle weight (6 min,g)
2.5
20.0
2.0 r = -0.63, P <0.01
r = -0.66, P<0.01
TOM value
1.5 19.0
1.0 18.0
0.5
17.0
0.0
0 50 100 150 16.0
0 200 400 600 800
Energy（cm 2 ）
Max.resistance (BU)
 Energy (r = -0.66) and maximum resistance (r = -0.63) were significantly and
negatively associated with TOM value and cooked noodle weights, respectively.
 Flour protein property was the major factor in determining noodle cooking quality.

17. Relationship between starch pasting property and parameters of
noodle cooking quality
Noodle cooking quality was also affected slightly by starch pasting parameters.

18. Relationship between gluten strength and starch pasting property
and total score of noodle sensory evaluation
95 95
90 90
85 85
DWCN score
DWCN score
80 80
75 75
70 70
65 65
60 60
55 55
0 200 400 600 800 150 200 250 300
Max resistance (B.U.) Peak viscosity (RVU)
 The association between gluten strength and noodle total score fitted quadratic
regression model. This suggests that over strong quality wheat will have
negative effect on Chinese noodle quality.
 Starch peak viscosity contributed positively to Chinese noodle quality.

19. Summary-1
 The cooked noodle weight for 10 min was recommended to be an
important parameter for evaluation of noodle cooking quality.
 For 10 g fresh noodle, the cooked noodle weight for 10 min should
be no more than 21.0 g for good noodle cooking quality in Chinese
wheat samples.
 It is suggested that cooked noodle weight for 10 min should be
measured as well as sensory evaluation Chinese noodle quality for
wheat breeding program.

20. Summary-2
 Flour protein property was the major factor in determining noodle
cooking quality.
 Noodle cooking quality was also affected slightly by starch pasting
parameters.
 Flour with medium protein content, medium to strong gluten
strength, and starch high peak viscosity are desirable for Chinese
noodle quality.

21. Acknowledgement
 Prof. Jun Yan , Dr. Yonggui Xiao, and
Mr. Desen Wang , providing wheat samples
 Funding from the national natural science
foundation of China (31171547) and an
international collaboration project on wheat
improvement from Chinese Ministry of
Agriculture (2011-G3)

22. Thank you for your attention
谢谢！