Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient is starch based batter – dough product – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
1997-01-22
2001-04-03
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient is starch based batter, dough product, etc.
C426S451000, C426S455000, C426S497000, C426S506000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210735
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a process for producing pastas such as spaghetti, macaroni and shells or noodles such as soba, udon, hiyamugi, kishimen or Chinese noodles that can be prepared by boiling within as short times as are required to cook “instant ramen” or by the simple procedure of pouring in hot water and letting stand for a while as in the case of “instant cup noodles” and which yet can be served to provide good palatability.
Pastas are produced by adding water to wheat flour, kneading the mixture to prepare a dough of firm consistency and shaping the dough by extrusion through an extruder or the like under high pressure. Typically, the semolina of durum which is a hard wheat (or high gluten content) is used as a primary raw material, which is occasionally mixed with egg white, milk and other ingredients. The pastas thus produced are in hard and dense shapes. Pastas are prepared by boiling and cooked to provide such a moisture gradient that the moisture content in the center of the pasta is lower than the surface moisture content; the pastas are said to taste the best when served “al dente” with a “firm” texture.
To create the “al dente” condition, the use of dry or raw pastas is preferred; however, these pastas take a long time to boil and are unsuitable for the case where convenience and speed in cooking are required.
Several methods have been attempted to serve pastas “al dente” with improved convenience and speed in cooking and they include providing V cuts along the strings of pastas such as spaghetti or quickly freezing pastas that have been boiled “al dente”. However, even the pastas with V cuts cannot be cooked as quickly and conveniently as “instant noodles”. Frozen pastas have no problems with quality but because of the limitations in distribution and storage on the market, they have not become as popular as “instant noodles”.
As for noodles including udon, soba, hiyamugi, kishimen and Chinese noodles, various methods have also been proposed to accomplish the manufacture of quick boiling products. According to the known proposals, partially cooked noodles prepared by boiling raw noodles for a short time or boiled products prepared by boiling raw or dry noodles are distributed either chilled or frozen. However, these partially cooked noodles or preboiled noodles have had the problem that during the distribution, not only their palatability deteriorates but also the strings become “too tender” with the lapse of time, thereby deteriorating in texture.
Various types of “instant noodles” are manufactured and sold on the market. They are produced by either frying raw noodles with oil or fats or steaming them followed by drying. However, either type of products has the disadvantage that when cooked, the noodles do not have as firm a texture as the products prepared by boiling dry or raw noodles.
Under the circumstances, it has been desired to develop either quick boiling pastas or noodles that can be prepared and served “al dente” or with firm consistency by merely boiling for a comparatively short time, say, within 3 minute or instant cooking pastas or noodles that can be similarly prepared and served by just pouring in hot water and letting stand for a while or, alternatively, heating in a microwave oven.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a process for the manufacture of quick boiling or instant cooking pastas or noodles (pastas and noodles are hereunder sometimes collectively referred to as “pasta or the like”) which comprises heating dry pasta or the like with either wet or dry heat to modify the surface layer portion, drying the surface of the pasta or the like if the heating is done by wet heat, contacting the pasta or the like with cool or heated water to have it absorbed, and reheating the pasta or the like if the final product is of an instant cooking type. The quick boiling or instant cooking pastas produced by the process of the invention can be cooked to the same “al dente” condition or the same consistency as can be attained upon prolonged boiling of dry or raw pastas by merely boiling for a short period on the order of 0.5-3 minutes or by just pouring in hot water, letting stand for about 0.5-3 minutes and discarding the water, or by simply heating in a microwave oven for a short time.
Having these advantages, the process of the invention comprises the steps of heating dry pastas or noodles to modify the surface layer portion, drying the pasta or the like to remove the surface moisture if the heating is done by wet heat, having the surface-modified pasta or the like absorb water by immersing in or spraying with water at an ordinary or elevated temperature such as to establish contact with the water, and reheating the pasta or the like if the final product is of an instant cooking type.
The process of the invention for producing quick- boiling or instant cooking pasta or the like uses the common dry pasta or the like as a starting material. When immersed in water, dry pastas or noodles will generally absorb water to swell over time to acquire physical properties similar to those of raw pastas or noodles; on the other hand, the swollen product will dissolve at the surface to be leached into water and the surface becomes so fragile that it will be disintegrated by a small physical force.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the present invention, the step of swelling by water absorption is preceded by a heat treatment which is effected for a short but sufficient time to form a modified starch film on the surface of the dry pasta or the like. Because of this starch modification, the surface of the pasta or the like will neither dissolve nor disintegrate even if it absorbs water in the subsequent water absorption swelling step and it is possible to produce pasta or the like which retains a smooth surface even after absorbing water. Stated more specifically, the dry pastas or noodles are heated for a short but sufficient time to modify an extremely thin surface layer while leaving the central portion dry. The term “modification” of starch as used herein shall mean not only conversion to the a-starch as by wet heat but also the case where the surface portion of the pasta or the like is modified physically or chemically by dry heat to such a state that the surface portion of the pasta or the like will neither dissolve nor disintegrate even if it is contacted with water in the subsequent step of water absorption.
The heating method is effected with wet heat as by immersing hot water or by steaming with water vapor or with dry heat as by exposure to heat rays or heated air. If heated air is to be employed, the dry pasta or the like may be passed through the heated air or sprayed with it. However, heating with dry heat is preferred since the pasta or the like will be less sticky on the surface after the heating, thereby eliminating the need to provide an additional step for removing the moisture.
The heating may be performed at any temperature that is high enough to modify the starch in the surface layer portion of the pasta or the like and it may range from about 40° C. up to a point just below the temperature at which the surface of the pasta or the like scorches (in the case of heating with dry heat). In steaming with water vapor, heating beyond 100° C. is possible by using superheated steam.
The heating temperature ranges usually from 60 to 200° C. and preferably from 60 to 160° C. with the range of 60-95° C. being more preferred. The heating time varies with the heating temperature, the type of the pasta or the like, their shape, size and thickness but it ranges preferably from several seconds to 30 minutes, more preferably from 10 seconds to 25 minutes. If heating is performed for an unduly short time at high temperatures, the pasta or the like will be heated unevenly or some areas of the surface will be left uncovered with the modified film. If the heating time is unduly long, the pasta or the like tends to be chunky and deteriorated in quality. Optimal heating conditions can be appropriately selected
Browdy and Neimark
Feed Up Inc.
Tran Lien
LandOfFree
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