ABSTRACT
Instrumental texture tests on cooked noodles are valuable research tools and are well suited for monitoring noodle texture after changes in formulations, raw materials, and processing. Uniaxial tests are most common, and a variety of test types, strains, strain rates, and probe dimensions are used. Consequently, standardization is a challenge. Compressive tests (cutting and blunt probe compression) are more frequently reported than tensile tests. Combining results of tensile and compressive tests shows potential to uncover aspects of noodle texture not detectable using one method alone. Tensile and blunt-probe compression tests can be both adapted for stress relaxation experiments and may be used to derive fundamental rheological information. Dynamic oscillating rheometry shows promise as a tool for investigating composition/structure/function relationships in cooked noodles. However, unlike large deformation “texture” tests, dynamic oscillating rheometry struggles to match sensory perceptions of noodle texture. This may result from the scale of the deformations applied, which are commonly much smaller than the deformations required for rupture. Limitations of small deformations become more evident when considering fracture properties of noodles and how these are affected by changes in flour composition and inhomogenieties in noodle structure at the macro-, meso-, and micro-scales. Combining information from small and large deformations has been used to investigate changes in noodle texture occurring after changes in amylose and protein composition. This combined approach may prove to be useful in resolving differences and similarities in noodle texture wrought by changes in the constituent polymers of wheat flour.
