LWT - Food Science and Technology 97 (2018) 396–403

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt

Comparative study of cooking quality, microstructure, and textural and T

sensory properties between fresh wheat noodles prepared using sodium
chloride and salt substitutes
Hui-Ling Tan∗, Thuan-Chew Tan, Azhar Mat Easa
Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, USM, Penang, Malaysia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The effects of sodium chloride (NaCl) and commercial salt substitutes (SS) on cooking qualities, microstructure,
Sodium chloride textural and sensory properties of fresh wheat noodles were studied. NaCl and four types of SS were added at 1, 4
Salt substitutes and 8% of flour weight. White salted noodles (WSN) had shorter optimum cooking time than zero-salted noodles
Fresh white salted noodles (ZSN). Cooking yield of ZSN, WSN-NaCl-1, WSN-NaCl-8, WSN-SS3-1 and WSN-SS3-4 were significantly
Microstructure
(P < 0.05) higher than other noodles. Increment of salts resulted in significantly increased (P < 0.05) cooking
Sensory properties
loss but did not significantly affect (P > 0.05) springiness of noodles. Addition of salts into noodles, except
WSN-NaCl-1, WSN-NaCl-8, and WSN-SS2-8 were firmer than ZSN. WSN-SS2 and WSN-SS4 exhibited densest
microstructure than ZSN and WSN-NaCl. Ranking test indicated that replacing NaCl with SS2, SS3 and SS4 up to
8% in noodles could retain elasticity of noodles. SS2 and SS4 may be useful to replace NaCl due to better noodles
qualities than ZSN and WSN-NaCl.

1. Introduction
Noodles are a staple food for consumers in most of Southeast Asia
and China. Since the basic ingredients of wheat flour-based Asian
noodles are wheat flour, water, and salt or alkaline salt, these noodles
are often categorized into the following two types: white salted noodles
(with added salt) or yellow alkaline noodles (with added alkaline salt)
(Fu, 2008; Li et al., 2018).
The wheat flour components (i.e. starch and proteins), sodium
chloride (NaCl), and alkaline salt impact quality of dough and noodles.
NaCl is important in processing, taste, and preservations of food pro-
ducts (Hutton, 2002). NaCl (< 3%) tightens and strengthens gluten
structure by promoting aggregation of gliadins and glutenins via in-
termolecular hydrogen bonds and/or ionic bonds and allowing more
proteins to cross-link (Morris, Jeffers, & Engle, 2000; Rombouts,
Jansens, Lagrain, Delcour, & Zhu, 2014; Ukai, Matsumura, & Urade,
2008). Thus, NaCl addition produces a more elastic and stable dough
resulting in less sticky and easier handling of dough (Hutton, 2002; Li,
2016). NaCl also enhances the palatability of food by imparting a de-
sirable salty taste when it dissociates into ions (https://www.ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/books/NBK50958/, Bartoshuk, 1980).
SS are gradually getting more attention due to changes in nutri-
tional concept of consumers. SS perform the same functions as salt and
being marketed to circumvent the risk of diseases associated with a high
salt intake. Research in the field of SS in food products has intensified
recently and has been extensively reviewed. dos Santos et al. (2015)
reported that reduction of 50% of NaCl by potassium chloride has re-
duced firmness of dry fermented sausages whereas addition of calcium
chloride reduced the degradation of sarcoplasmic proteins in processing
and increased the hardness of the fermented sausages. Meanwhile, from
Charlton, Macgregor, Vorster, Levitt, and Steyn (2007), replacement of
32% of sodium with a mixture of magnesium chloride, potassium
chloride and magnesium sulphate in breads were comparable to taste
and texture of regular bread.
To our knowledge, there is no literature dealing with the effects of
SS on fresh wheat noodles. Thus, a fundamental study of various types
of SS can provide insight into application of SS in fresh wheat noodles.
The typical amount of NaCl added into WSNs may contain up to 8% on
flour weight basis. NaCl is important in noodle production but high
levels of NaCl are detrimental to health. Therefore selected SS with
certain percentages were added to eliminate NaCl and maintain the
qualities of ZSN and WSNs. SS can be introduced into noodles to replace
NaCl during formulating and mixing. SS which will enhance protein
network in noodles are preferred. The main objective of this study was
to compare the effects of NaCl and SS on qualities of noodles.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tanhuiling27@gmail.com (H.-L. Tan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2018.07.031
Received 15 January 2018; Received in revised form 17 June 2018; Accepted 15 July 2018
Available online 17 July 2018
0023-6438/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H.-L. Tan et al. LWT - Food Science and Technology 97 (2018) 396–403

2. Materials and methods dimensions of the resultant noodle strands were 1.4 mm in width and
1.1 mm in thickness.
2.1. Materials

2.3. Determination of cooking qualities

Commercial wheat flour (14.0% moisture content, 10.5% protein
content on dry matter basis) well-suited for production of fresh salted
2.3.1. Optimum cooking time
noodles was purchased from Seberang Flour Mill Sdn. Bhd. (Penang,
Optimum cooking time of noodles was determined by withdrawing
Malaysia). NaCl was purchased from Tesco Stores (M) Sdn. Bhd.
five noodle strands from the boiling water after 5 min and subsequently
(Georgetown, Malaysia). SS1 was purchased from Morton Salt
at 30 s intervals. The noodles were rinsed and gently squeezed between
Company (Chicago, IL, USA), and SS2 was purchased from NuTek Food
two Plexiglas sheets. Optimum cooking time was defined as the time at
Science Company (Omaha, NE, USA). SS3 was purchased from
which the white core in the central core in a noodle strand disappeared
Cumberland Packing Corp. (Brooklyn, NY, USA), and SS4 was pur-
(Hatcher, Dexter, Anderson, Bellido, & Fu, 2009). Cooked noodles were
chased from Reckitt Benckiser Company (Parsippany, NJ, USA).
immediately cooled in distilled water at 20 °C for 3 min. Samples were
withdrawn for further analysis.
2.2. Noodle preparation

Control noodle dough consisted of 100 parts of wheat flour and 35
parts of distilled water. Next, on a flour weight basis, NaCl, SS1, SS2,
SS3 and SS4 were added separately at 1, 4, or 8%. The levels of addition
were selected based on the typical range of usage levels of NaCl in
regular salted noodles which is 1–8% of the flour weight. Salts solutions
were prepared by dissolving salts in water prior to addition with wheat
flour. Designations of noodles samples are given in Table 1. Ingredients
were mixed into crumbly dough using a mixer (Spar Quart Planetary,
SP 8, Taichung, Taiwan) at mixing speed 2 for 6 min. After mixing, the
crumbly dough was rolled and hand kneaded into a stiff mass. Dough
was placed in a plastic zip lock bag to rest for 30 min at 23 °C. After
resting, the dough was passed through a pasta maker (Marcato Ampia,
Model 150, Campodarsego PD, Italy) with an initial gap setting at width
0 (2.2 mm) for 5 times. After the first sheeting stage, the dough sheet
was placed in a polyethylene bag for 30 min at 23 °C (second resting
stage). It was then successively sheeted through three different roll gaps
which were width 1 (2.0 mm), width 2 (1.8 mm), width 3 (1.6 mm), and
width 4 (1.4 mm). Immediately after the second sheeting stage, the
sheet was cut into fresh noodle strands using the same pasta maker. The
2.3.2. Cooking yield
Cooking yield and cooking loss were determined as previously de-
scribed by Zhou et al. (2013) and Tan, Phatthanawiboon, and Easa
(2016) with slight modifications. For each measurement, 10 strands of
uncooked noodle was weighed and then boiled in 400 mL of distilled
water at optimum cooking time of each sample with slight agitation.
The cooked noodle was rinsed in cold water for 30 s and drained for
5 min before weighing. The cooking yield of the cooked noodles was
calculated as (noodle weight after cooking/weight of uncooked noo-
dles) x 100 and it represents the ability of noodles to absorb water
during cooking.
2.3.3. Cooking loss
Cooking loss was determined by evaporating 100 mL of the cooking
water in a hot air oven at 105 °C to constant weight. Cooking loss was
determined by measuring the weight of solid substance lost from noodle
strands into the cooking water. There are 3 measurements were taken
for each type of noodle, and the values were averaged.

Table 1 2.4. Texture profile analysis (TPA)

Formulation of ZSNs, WSN-TS, WSN-SS1, WSN-SS2, WSN-SS3, and WSN-SS4.
Types of noodles Ingredients (g) Noodle samples were cooled in distilled water for 3 min right after
cooking and drained for 5 min before being subjected to TPA (Zhou
Wheat flour Distilled water NaCl SS1 SS2 SS3 SS4 et al., 2013). Texture analyser (Stable Micro Systems, TA-XT Plus,
London, England) fitted with a 5 kg load cell was used for this mea-
ZSNs 100 35 – – – – –
WSN-NaCl-1 100 35 1 – – – – surement. TPA was performed by placing 3 strands of cooked noodle
WSN-NaCl-4 100 35 4 – – – – samples (length 70 mm) in parallel on the middle of the compression
WSN-NaCl-8 100 35 8 – – – – plate using pasta firmness rig (HDP/PFS). The instrument settings were
WSN-SS1-1 100 35 – 1 – – – as followed: Mode, measure force in compression; Trigger type, auto
WSN-SS1-4 100 35 – 4 – – –
WSN-SS1-8 100 35 – 8 – – –
with trigger force of 20 g; Pre-test speed, 2.0 mm/s; Test speed,
WSN-SS2-1 100 35 – – 1 – – 0.8 mm/s; Post-test speed, 0.8 mm/s; Strain, 75%; Interval between two
WSN-SS2-4 100 35 – – 4 – – compressions, 1.0 s (Li, Foo, Liong, Tan, & Easa, 2013; Lu, Guo, &
WSN-SS2-8 100 35 – – 8 – – Zhang, 2009). There were 2 continuous compressions and 3 measure-
WSN-SS3-1 100 35 – – – 1 –
ments were taken for each type of noodle, and the values were aver-
WSN-SS3-4 100 35 – – – 4 –
WSN-SS3-8 100 35 – – – 8 – aged. The textural parameters which are hardness (N) and springiness
WSN-SS4-1 100 35 – – – – 1 were obtained from the force (N) - distance (mm) curve.
WSN-SS4-4 100 35 – – – – 4
WSN-SS4-8 100 35 – – – – 8
2.5. Microstructure analysis
ZSN-Zero-salted noodles. WSN-NaCl-1, WSN-NaCl-4, and WSN-NaCl-8 re-
present white salted noodles containing NaCl with 1, 4, and 8% of flour weight A scanning electron microscope (SEM) (Leo Supra 50, Oberkochem,
basis, respectively. WSN-SS1-1, WSN-SS1-4, and WSN-SS1-8 represent white Germany) was used to observe the microstructures of cooked ZSN and
salted noodles containing SS1 with 1, 4, and 8% of flour weight basis, respec-
1% and 8% of WSN-NaCl, WSN-SS2 and WSN-SS4. Before SEM analysis,
tively. WSN-SS2-1, WSN-SS2-4, and WSN-SS2-8 represent white salted noodles
noodle samples were being fixated with glutaraldehyde and then freeze
containing SS2 with 1, 4, and 8% of flour weight basis, respectively. WSN-SS3-
1, WSN-SS3-4, and WSN-SS3-8 represent white salted noodles containing SS3 dried (Labconco Corporation, Freezone 12, Kansas City, MO, USA).
with 1, 4, and 8% of flour weight basis, respectively. Next, dried noodle samples were fractured and mounted on specimen
WSN-SS4-1, WSN-SS4-4, and WSN-SS4-8 represent white salted noodles con- stubs with the fractured side faced up. The mounted noodle samples
taining SS4 with 1, 4, and 8% of flour weight basis, respectively. were coated with Pt-Pd, and cross-section of the noodles was observed
“-” denotes absence of the ingredient in the formulation. with the SEM at 300× magnification (Li et al., 2013).

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2.6. Sensory evaluation Table 2

Optimum cooking time, cooking yield and cooking loss of fresh wheat noodles.
Ranking tests were conducted at Lab 250, sensory laboratory at Designations Optimum cooking time Cooking yield (%) Cooking loss (%)
School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. (min)a
This lab is chosen because it is well equipped and suitable for sensory
ZSNs 8.0 252.89a ± 1.08 2.15def ± 0.12
test. The white lightning of each individual booth was uniform,
WSN-NaCl-1 8.0 250.87a ± 1.50 3.06b ± 0.00
shadow-free, adequate intensity for accessing appearance. The labora- WSN-NaCl-4 5.0 220.31e ± 0.41 2.38cd ± 0.09
tory is adequately ventilated and maintained at a comfortable tem- WSN-NaCl-8 5.0 250.64a ± 1.39 4.41a ± 0.01
perature and humidity. The ventilation hoods with exhaust fans are WSN-SS1-1 8.0 245.18b ± 2.01 2.34d ± 0.27
installed over the stoves to reduce cooking odors in preparation area WSN-SS1-4 7.0 235.23c ± 3.16 2.88bc ± 0.34
WSN-SS1-8 5.0 227.58d ± 1.29 3.04b ± 0.30
and prevent spreading of these odors to the panellists.
WSN-SS2-1 5.0 225.88d ± 2.49 1.66f ± 0.12
Prior to the sensory test, noodle samples were prepared and cooked WSN-SS2-4 5.0 227.61d ± 0.69 2.14def ± 0.11
in boiling water (at a ratio of 1:10, one part noodles in 10 parts water). WSN-SS2-8 5.0 228.17d ± 0.74 3.16b ± 0.11
Samples were served to panellists in a 3–4 g portion on dishes marked WSN-SS3-1 8.0 249.11ab ± 0.58 2.23de ± 0.12
WSN-SS3-4 8.0 252.52a ± 0.84 2.88bc ± 0.16
with randomised three-digit numbers. The samples were served in
WSN-SS3-8 5.0 229.39d ± 1.95 3.12b ± 0.19
randomized order for all panellists. WSN-SS4-1 5.0 225.28de ± 1.59 1.76ef ± 0.04
Ranking tests of fresh cooked noodles were carried out by 30 semi- WSN-SS4-4 5.0 224.83de ± 3.32 2.46cd ± 0.06
trained panellists from the School of Industrial Technology, Universiti WSN-SS4-8 5.0 224.73de ± 0.95 3.08b ± 0.22
Sains Malaysia, Penang. The panellists consisted of male and female
students who were 20–40 years old. Results are presented as mean values ± standard deviation of three replicates.
Different letters superscripted denote significant difference (P < 0.05) be-
There were two ranking tests conducted on separate days to eval-
tween samples for each parameter.
uate saltiness, elasticity, hardness and colour of (a) cooked WSN-NaCl a
Optimum cooking time was done in 3 measurements for each type of noodles.
-1 and WSN-NaCl -8 for two cooking times of 5 and 8 min and (b) No standard deviation was reported because the values obtained for each
cooked 8% of WSN-NaCl, WSN-SS1, WSN-SS2, WSN-SS3 and WSN-SS4 measurement of the sample were identical.
at optimum cooking time. Elasticity of cooked noodles was judged by
stretching them until they broke. For the first ranking test, the scores hydrophilic interactions between salts and water (Roselina &
from the ranking test were marked on an evaluation sheet using four Muhammad, 2015). Hence, more water penetrated and absorbed into
levels (1 = low, 4 = high). Samples were scored as follows: saltiness noodle strands during cooking.
(1 = extremely non-salty; 4 = extremely salty), elasticity (1 = ex- Cooking loss can serve as an indication of structural integrity of the
tremely non-elastic; 4 = extremely elastic), colour (1 = extremely dull; noodles' network (Zhou et al., 2013). The amount of salts had an effect
4 = extremely bright), hardness (1 = extremely soft, 4 = extremely on cooking loss in such a way that cooking loss increased with increase
hard). Meanwhile, the scores for the second ranking test were marked in salts added. This may due to the leaching of added salts or salt so-
using five levels (1 = low, 5 = high) (Lisak, Lenc, Jelicic, & Bozanic, luble proteins into cooking water. The results obtained were in con-
2012; Muhammad, Kusnandar, Hashim, & Rahman, 1999; Tan, Li, & sensus with study conducted by Li et al. (2018) who state that WSN and
Tan, 2009). yellow alkaline noodles had increased cooking loss than the control.
Besides that, high levels of salts promoted more rapid heat transfer by
2.7. Statistical analysis increasing boiling point of cooking water and quicker starch gelatini-
zation by weakening protein-starch matrix. This allowed a greater
Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation of three amount of starch to be dissolved into cooking water. SS4 and SS2
different determinations. The results were statistically analysed using noodles had significantly lower cooking loss (P < 0.05) than other
SPSS version17.0 (P < 0.05) (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The com- noodles, which suggests that strong starch-protein complexes were
parison of means was performed by one-way analysis of variance fol- present in the network and starch granules were somewhat protected
lowed by Tukey's test. from being separated from the gluten network. Generally, cooking loss
of ZSN (2.15def ± 0.12) and WSN-SS2-1 (1.66f ± 0.12), WSN-SS3-1
3. Results and discussion (2.23de ± 0.12), WSN-SS4-1 (1.76ef ± 0.04) and WSN-SS2-4
(2.14def ± 0.11) were lowest whereas WSN-NaCl-8 (4.41a ± 0.01) had
3.1. Cooking qualities of noodles highest cooking loss. There was an apparent link between optimum
cooking times with cooking loss of noodles, higher cooking loss was
Optimum cooking times, cooking yield and cooking loss of noodle associated with the longer optimum cooking time of noodles. Cooking
are presented in Table 2. Except for SS2 and SS4, the amount of salts loss of noodles should not exceed 10% of the dry weight (Wu, Youngs,
had an effect on optimum cooking time in such a way that shorter Warner, & Bookwalter, 1987). In this study, cooking loss was < 10% for
optimum cooking times were obtained at higher level of salts addition. all noodles, including the ZSN. The cooking loss of WSN-NaCl-8
This result was expected due to leaching of high level of salts from (4.41a ± 0.01) was significantly higher cooking loss (P < 0.05) than
noodle strands into cooking water which increase boiling point and thus other noodles. A high level of NaCl (8%) was detrimental to the in-
shortened optimum cooking time of noodles. Our results were in tegrity of noodles that could result in weakening of the interaction
agreement with works of author (Tan, Ho, Chong, & Easa, 2017) who between starch and protein.
state that optimum cooking time of noodles without added salts had
longer optimum cooking time than those with added salts.
Generally, cooking yield of WSN-NaCl-4 (220.31e ± 0.41), WSN- 3.2. Textural properties of noodles
SS4-1 (225.28de ± 1.59), WSN-SS4-4 (224.83de ± 3.32), WSN-SS4-8
(224.73de ± 0.95) were lowest whereas ZSN (252.89a ± 1.08) and The hardness of cooked noodles was clearly affected by level of
WSN-SS3-1 (249.11ab ± 0.58), WSN-NaCl-1 (250.87a ± 1.50), WSN- addition of NaCl, SS2, SS3 and SS4 (Fig. 1a). The hardness of ZSN
SS3-4 (252.52a ± 0.84), WSN-NaCl-8 (250.64a ± 1.39) had highest (31.21g ± 0.95), WSN-NaCl-8 (31.78g ± 0.47), WSN-SS2-8
cooking yield. Except for WSN-NaCl-8, higher cooking yield was asso- (31.57 ± 1.19), WSN-NaCl-1 (33.41fg ± 0.43), and WSN-SS4-8
g

ciated with the longer optimum cooking time of noodles. Both addition (33.87fg ± 0.54) were lowest whereas cooked WSN-SS3-1
of salts and longer optimum cooking time of noodles allowed extensive (40.22ab ± 0.30) and WSN-SS4-1 (41.27a ± 0.36) were highest. The

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H.-L. Tan et al.
a Fig. 1. Effects of NaCl and SS on (a) hardness (b) springiness
general tendency of NaCl to reduce water absorption at low con-
centrations can be attributed to electrostatic shielding of charged amino
acids on the surface of gluten proteins, reducing thickness of electro-
static repulsions between individual gluten proteins, which in turn in-
duces stronger inter-protein hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions
resulting in increased aggregation and strong gluten network
(Avramenko, Tyler, Scanlon, Hucl, & Nickerson, 2018; Belz, Ryan, &
Arendt, 2012).
The incorporation of NaCl and SS except 1% NaCl, 8% NaCl and 8%
SS2 had significant higher of hardness value (P < 0.05) than ZSN
(Fig. 1a). Lower levels of NaCl induced less shielding effect to enable a
greater amount of protein-water interactions and thus a weaker gluten
network. Water absorption was reduced as well due to increased com-
petition for binding sites. Meanwhile, ZSN (31.21g ± 0.95) and WSN-
NaCl-8 (31.78g ± 0.47) were softest due to higher cooking yield
(Table 2). Higher levels of NaCl induced too much shielding effect and
repulsion. Hence, development of gluten structure was somewhat im-
paired at the microstructural level and formation of a relatively close
gluten network was prevented. Salt binds with water instead of pro-
moting protein-to-protein interaction. Rombouts et al. (2014) also re-
ported that increased NaCl (0.5 up to 3% on flour weight basis) reduced
the extent of gluten polymerisation during cooking. Decreased inter-
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LWT - Food Science and Technology 97 (2018) 396–403
of noodles: ( ) ZSN; ( ) WSN-NaCl; ( ) WSN-SS1; ( )
WSN-SS2; ( ) WSN-SS3; ( ) WSN-SS4. Error bars indicate
mean values ± standard deviations of three replicates. Bars
with different letters denote significant difference (P < 0.05)
between samples.
protein hydrophobic interactions reduced the tendency of the proteins
to aggregate, as shown previously (Preston, 1981). Hatcher, Symons,
and Kruger (1999) also reported that WSN exhibited significant de-
clines in textural characteristics with increasing water absorption. Their
result showed that water uptake during cooking was closely related to
the texture and cooking qualities of starch noodles. Insufficient water
uptake usually results in hard and coarse noodles, but excess water
uptake often results in noodles that are too soft and sticky (Jin, Wu, &
Wu, 1994).
Springiness refers to the ability of noodles to return to their original
shape after compression. In general, consumers prefer noodles with
high springiness. Except for WSN-NaCl-8 and WSN-SS1-8, ZSN and
WSNs had no significant difference (P > 0.05) in springiness of noo-
dles (Fig. 1b). The springiness of ZSN were significantly higher
(P < 0.05) than WSN-NaCl-8 and WSN-SS1-8. The springiness of
cooked of cooked WSN-NaCl-8 (0.69c ± 0.01) and WSN-SS1-8
(0.72bc ± 0.02) were the lowest, whereas ZSN (0.84a ± 0.02), WSN-
NaCl-4 (0.83a ± 0.03), WSN-SS1-1 (0.79ab ± 0.02), WSN-SS2-1
(0.79ab ± 0.01), WSN-SS2-4 (0.80 ab
± 0.03), WSN-SS2-8
ab
(0.79 ± 0.03), WSN-SS3-1 (0.83a ± 0.04), WSN-SS3-4
(0.82a ± 0.05), WSN-SS4-1 (0.79ab ± 0.05), and WSN-SS4-4
(0.80ab ± 0.05) were the most elastic. The result suggested that levels
H.-L. Tan et al.
Fig. 2. Scanning electron micrographs (A–G) of the cross-section of cooked (optimum cooking time) ZSNs, WSN-NaCl-1.0, WSN-NaCl-8.0, WSN-SS2-1.0, WSN-SS2-
8.0, WSN-SS4-1.0 and WSN-SS4-8.0.
of incorporation of salts had no significant differences (P > 0.05) in
springiness of noodles. Hence, SS had little influence on springiness of
noodles and could substitute NaCl in WSN for springiness properties.
3.3. Microstructure
The microstructure of cooked (Fig. 2) of ZSN, WSN-NaCl-1 and
WSN-NaCl-8, WSN-SS2-1 and WSN-SS2-8 and WSN-SS4-1 and WSN-
SS4-8 were examined. For SEM test, WSN-SS2-1 and WSN-SS4-1 (higher
hardness results than ZSN and WSN-NaCl) and WSN-SS2-8 and WSN-
SS4-8 (hardness results closest to ZSN and WSN-NaCl) were chosen.
ZSN and WSN-NaCl were used for comparison. Noodles were cooked at
optimum cooking time. The concentration of 1% and 8% of salts were
chosen to identify the effects of lowest and highest amount of salts on
microstructure of noodles.
Cooking had an impact on structure of noodles. Heat and water
absorption during cooking yielded noodles with hollow structures. The
inner cross-section of cooked noodles consisted of dense areas of gluten
network and appeared to be amorphous, possibly due to swelled and
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LWT - Food Science and Technology 97 (2018) 396–403
ruptured starch granules within the gluten network. Final pH of cooked
noodles and structure are related to each others. Noodles which were
acidic (WSN-SS2-1, WSN-SS2-8 and WSN-SS4-8) showed formation of a
dense network with numerous protein interactions and appeared to be
less smooth as those that are less acidic (WSN-NaCl-1, WSN-NaCl-8,
WSN-SS4-1 and ZSN). Microstructure of WSN-NaCl-1, WSN-NaCl-8,
WSN-SS4-1 and ZSN appeared to be less compact and swollen; this
could be due to weaknesses in protein-to-protein interactions. Another
factor affecting structure was level of addition of salts. High levels of
NaCl but not SS were detrimental to structure of noodles. The porous
structure of WSN-NaCl-8 might accelerate water penetration into the
central core of noodles and allow heat/mass transfer to take place ef-
fectively. Hence, WSN-NaCl-8 had higher cooking yield and cooking
loss but lower hardness than other noodle samples (Table 2 and Fig. 1).
Meanwhile, continuity of the gluten network of WSN-SS2 and WSN-SS4
were somewhat resulted in the lower cooking loss (Table 2).
H.-L. Tan et al.
Fig. 3. Ranking test of (I) Saltiness, (II) Elasticity (III) Colour (IV) Hardness of (a) WSN-NaCl-1.0 and WSN-NaCl-8.0 cooked for 5 min and 8 min (b) cooked (optimum
cooking time) 8.0% of NaCl, SS1, SS2, SS3 and SS4 noodles. Error bars indicate mean values ± standard deviations of responses of 30 panellists. Bars with different
letters denote significant difference (P < 0.05) between samples.
3.4. Ranking tests
There were 2 ranking tests were conducted to evaluate saltiness,
elasticity, colour, and hardness of noodles; (a) WSN-NaCl-1 and WSN-
NaCl-8 for 2 cooking times of 5 min and 8 min.; and (b) 8% of WSN-
NaCl, WSN-SS1, WSN-SS2, WSN-SS3 and WSN-SS4 cooked at optimum
cooking time. These sensory characteristics were evaluated because
taste, appearance and texture are important for noodles. Different
cooking times of 5 min and 8 min were chosen for noodles in the first
ranking test was to determine effects of optimum cooking time of WSN-
NaCl-1 and WSN-NaCl-8 on quality of noodles. Results for both ranking
tests are shown in Fig. 3a (WSN-NaCl) and Fig. 3b (WSN-NaCl versus
WSN-SS). The sensory in saltiness of WSN-NaCl-8 (3.30a ± 0.60 and
3.37a ± 0.89) showed significantly higher value (P < 0.05) than WSN-
NaCl-1 (1.50b ± 0.63 and 1.83b ± 0.83) for both cooking times which
is 5 min and 8 min respectively (Fig. 3a (I)). Thus, the panellists were
able to differentiate higher salt noodles from those of lower salt. The
saltiness scores were also independent of cooking time. The elasticity
(Fig. 3a (II)) and hardness (Fig. 3a (IV)) of WSN-NaCl-8 cooked for
8 min (1.77b ± 0.94 and 1.77b ± 1.38) were significantly lower
(P < 0.05) than WSN-NaCl-1 cooked for 5 min (2.83a ± 1.12 and
3.13a ± 0.86) and 8 min (2.73a ± 1.14 and 2.77a ± 1.30) and WSN-
NaCl-8 cooked for 5 min (2.67a ± 0.99 and 2.67a ± 0.96). The results
from ranking test were tally with results obtained from TPA (Fig. 1a and
b) in which WSN-NaCl-1 at optimum cooking time of 8 mins and WSN-
NaCl-8 at optimum cooking time of 5 min had no significant difference
(P > 0.05) in hardness and springiness of noodles. A high level of NaCl
has always been suggested to bind with water molecules instead of
promoting protein-to-protein interactions to yield softer and less elastic
noodles. However, the weakening of structure in WSN-NaCl-8 was
evidenced only in those cooked for 8 min. At such a long heating time,
more water molecules were able to penetrate the gluten network and
caused weakening of structure. Thus, textural properties of cooked
WSN-NaCl could be retained if NaCl was added at low level or if
cooking was performed less than 5 min. High NaCl and long cooking
time are detrimental to texture. No significant difference in colour
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LWT - Food Science and Technology 97 (2018) 396–403
(P > 0.05) was detected among the noodles (Fig. 3a (III)), indicating
that NaCl and cooking times had little effect on noodles' colour.
Based on the result from first ranking test, WSN-NaCl-8 cooked with
8 min had undesirable quality attributes. Hence, WSN-NaCl-8 cooked
with 5 min was chosen to compare quality attributes with WSN-SS. No
significant difference in saltiness (P > 0.05) was detected among WSN-
NaCl, WSN-SS2 and WSN-SS3 (Fig. 3b (I)). The panellists were not able
to differentiate saltiness among these noodles. This was because SS2
contained sea salt and SS3 contained natural flavour and these in-
gredients contributed to the saltiness of the noodles. Elasticity describes
the way pasta breaks down on further chewing by teeth (Kill &
Turnbull, 2001). For sensory in elasticity, WSN-NaCl (3.53a ± 1.46)
showed significant higher value (P < 0.05) than WSN-SS1
(2.53b ± 1.28) (Fig. 3b (II)). Panelists ranked WSN-SS1 with lowest
scores (2.53b ± 1.28) for elasticity among all noodles samples. This
shows that high levels of SS1 gave no further improvement in the
elasticity of noodles. This can be associated with low quality of noodles
because according to Hou (2001), consumers prefer noodles which are
bright colour with firm texture. For colour, WSN-SS1 and WSN-SS2
differed significantly (P < 0.05) from the each other (Fig. 3b (III)).
Panellists ranked WSN-SS2 (2.53b ± 1.25) as noodles with the lowest
score for colour. This could be because SS2 contained rice flour, which
could have decreased the lightness value. Hardness is the resistance
offered by cooked pasta when it is bitten by teeth (Sözer & Kaya, 2003).
No significant difference in hardness (P > 0.05) was detected among
high level (8%) of NaCl, SS1, SS2, SS3, and SS4 noodles (Fig. 3b (IV)).
This indicates that salts had a little effect on noodles hardness from
human perspective. These findings might conclude that replacing NaCl
with SS2, SS3 and SS4 up to 8% for fresh WSN could retain sensory
properties of noodles, especially elasticity and colour.
4. Conclusion
WSN-NaCl-4 and WSN-NaCl-8 had significantly (P < 0.05) shorter
optimum cooking time than ZSN. There were no significance difference
(P < 0.05) in cooking yield of ZSN and WSN-NaCl-1 AND WSN-NaCl-8.
H.-L. Tan et al.
Fig. 3. (continued)
ZSN and WSN-NaCl-4 showed no significance difference (P < 0.05) in
cooking loss of noodles but WSN-NaCl-4 were firmer than ZSN. ZSN and
WSN-NaCl had no significant difference (P > 0.05) in springiness of
noodles. Microstructure of WSN-NaCl-1 appeared to be more compact
than WSN-NaCl-8 and ZSN. Thus, based on the results obtained, ZSN
are inferior to WSNs. NaCl at high level and long cooking time (i.e. 8%
and 8 min) are detrimental on quality characteristics of noodles. The
addition of 1% for SS2 and SS4 seemed to be the most suitable amount
of SS to improve ZSN and WSNs. WSN-SS2-1 and WSN-SS4-1 exerted
desirable effects on noodles because these noodles had significantly
(P < 0.05) lower cooking loss, firmer texture, a more compact mi-
crostructure than ZSN and WSN-NaCl. However, further works may be
necessary to study shelf life and consumers' acceptability on WSN-SS2-1
and WSN-SS4-1.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by a Research University Grant (No. 1001/
PTEKIND/811267), which was awarded by Universiti Sains Malaysia.
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