Cereals processing technology

7
Asian noodle processing
D. W. Hatcher, Canadian Grain Commission, Winnipeg
7.1 Introduction
7.1.1 History
Noodles can be traced back over 6000 years to northern China. 1,2 Some
attribute their origin to a small hamlet of Shanxis near the source of the Yellow
River where Yu noodles, similar to spaghetti were first formed. 3 The Han
dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) had a well-established hand-made (so-men) noodle
industry and by the Sung dynasty (960–1279 AD) variations in preparation and
cooking styles had developed. The first exchange of noodle technology took
place between 25 and 220 AD during the Eastern Han Dynasty when the
Japanese envoy to China returned home. Noodles disseminated from China and
were quickly adopted by other countries of South East Asia: Korea, Philippines,
Thailand and Malaysia, and were well-established in Japan by the 16th
century. 4 Buckwheat flour, which had been used as a substitute for rice in
Japan, was incorporated into buckwheat (soba) noodles by the seventeenth
century. 5 A relatively recent event was the development of the automated deepfried
instant noodle (ramen style) in Japan in 1957 1,2,3 by Nissin Foods where
they were quickly adopted as a convenience food. By the 1970s the instant
noodle had migrated successfully to the United States. 1 In 1997 it was estimated
that 40 billion 6 servings of instant noodles were consumed annually. The
importance of noodle products throughout South East Asia can best be
summarized by the fact that they account for 30–40 percent of most countries
total wheat flour consumption. 1 The limited scope of this chapter does not allow
us to explore the diversity of noodles unique to individual regions but will be
confined to the dominant forms which have a range of quality and processing
requirements.