Instant Noodle Making Process

Noodles are by far one of the most quickest food prepared and consumed by anyone. Most often all you need to do is get the packet, empty its contents into the pot of boiling water and then add the ingredients attached to them. Have you wondered how these noodles are made?

Well a brief history about noodles say it originated from china. There are factors that are important for the quality of a noodle such as; color, flavor, and texture, cooking quality, rehydration rates during final preparation, and the presence or absence of rancid taste after extended storage.

The process of making noodles has however evolved over the years. The processes include: mixing, sheeting, cutting and slitting, steaming and molding, frying and drying and then finally the packaging process. Of recent, all these are done with the help of a machine, most of these machines require that you just pour in the ingredients and then wait for the machine to do its work before you package.

Mixing:

In this process the machine stirs up different materials such as wheat flour with the mixing water. Most mixers knead 0.3kg to 0.3kg of the mixing water at a temperature of 20-30 degrees into the flour, a process which lasts for 15-20 minutes. The end product of this process is a textiform tissue that adds accounts for the elasticity of the noodle.

There are different kinds of mixers horizontal mixer, the vertical mixer, continuous high-speed mixer, low-speed super mixer, and the vacuum mixer.

Sheeting:

In the next process after mixing, the dough which exists in crumbles is passed through a continuous sheet of several rolls. The expected result of this is a smooth dough with the required thickness and then a uniform gluten matrix.

Cutting and Slitting:

The dough sheet is then cut into the strands we see in noodles. The cutting process deals with certain width which is determined by the width of the cutting rolls. Depending on the company and the noodle making machine, noodles can either be square or round in shape. Cutting rolls for instant noodles are usually numbered 18-22.

Steaming and molding:

This can also be called the pregelatinization process, it involves heating the noodles at a temperature of 100 degrees for 1-5 minutes. This process is very important as it determines the rehydration rate.

Frying and Drying:

The noodles is transported to a deep oil for deep frying and seasoning. The frying temperature is mostly in a temperature of 140 to 160 degrees for 60 to 120 seconds

Packaging:

The machine then weighs and packages noodles for distribution.