Processing method to make low oil content noodles and other foods produced by the same
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is to create healthier, tasty food alternatives for instant noodles with reduced oil content, addressing health concerns and production costs, while maintaining consumer acceptance and scalability.
Innovation Solution
A process involving a dough with an antioxidant and oil content between 0.06% to 15% by weight, cooked in a high-velocity stream of hot air to achieve enhanced fried oil flavor and reduced oil content, eliminating the need for external oil application and deep-frying.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If deep frying is used to produce instant noodles, then fried taste and texture are achieved, but oil content increases to 15%-25%
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful element (excessive oil) from the traditional deep-frying process while retaining the beneficial outcome (fried taste). By incorporating only 0.06%-15% oil into the dough and using high-velocity hot air circulation, the process eliminates the need for large amounts of external frying oil, reducing final oil content to 2%-10% while maintaining fried flavor characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical deep-frying system (submerging noodles in hot oil) with a high-velocity hot air circulation system. This substitution uses forced convection of preheated air at specific velocities and temperatures to achieve frying effects without the need for large quantities of oil, thereby reducing oil content while preserving fried taste and texture.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If air drying is used instead of deep frying, then oil content is reduced, but fried taste is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of the drying process by using high-velocity hot air circulation instead of conventional low-velocity air drying. The specific parameters include air velocity, temperature, and circulation patterns that simulate deep-frying conditions. This allows the noodles to develop fried taste characteristics through controlled thermal exposure while maintaining low oil content from the dough formulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by incorporating oil into the dough before shaping, rather than applying oil externally during or after frying. This pre-incorporation of controlled amounts of oil (0.06%-15%) ensures that the noodles have sufficient oil content for flavor development while avoiding excessive oil absorption that would occur in traditional deep-frying.
3Ease of manufacture
If external oil is applied to shaped dough before cooking, then fried taste is enhanced, but oil content increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the inversion principle by reversing the conventional sequence of oil application. Instead of applying oil externally to the shaped dough before cooking (which increases oil content), the process incorporates oil into the dough during mixing and relies on high-velocity hot air circulation during cooking to achieve fried taste without additional external oil application.
4Ease of manufacture
If traditional deep frying equipment is used, then fried noodles are produced, but production costs and oil disposal requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses pneumatic principles by implementing a high-velocity hot air circulation system to replace liquid oil-based deep frying. The forced air flow through the noodle batch provides the necessary heat transfer and frying effects without requiring large volumes of oil that would need disposal, thereby eliminating waste oil management requirements while maintaining production efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process results in instant noodles with improved health benefits and cost savings, maintaining the taste and texture of traditional fried noodles with significantly lower oil content, and allows for the production of various noodle types using the same equipment.
Implementation Method 1
cooking the dough in a high-velocity stream of hot air
Implementation Method 2
gelatinising the flour and cooking the dough
Implementation Method 3
preparing a dough comprising an antioxidant
Data Source
AI summary
A process for producing food having fried organoleptic properties with low oil content such as instant noodles with good aroma, taste, mouthfeel, colour and other characteristics by incorporating an antioxidant into the dough and cooking it in a stream of circulated air at a temperature of 100° C. or above.