Rheological, microstructural, and tomographical studies on the rehydration improvement of hot air-dried noodles with oleogel

Abstract

The effects of soybean oil-candelilla wax oleogel on the rehydration of hot air-dried noodles during cooking were evaluated in terms of rheological, microstructural, and tomographical characteristics. The viscoelastic and tensile measurements showed more viscous properties of noodle doughs with increasing levels of oleogels. Compared to the control without oleogel, the oleogel noodles showed higher thermal conductivity that could be correlated with a softer texture. These results were attributed to more porous microstructural characteristics of the oleogel noodles. Furthermore, the 3-dimensional volumetric analysis by Micro-CT showed that the use of oleogel allowed the cooked noodles to become less dense and also have large pore size distribution, clearly exhibiting advantages to facilitate the rehydration during cooking. The noodles with oleogel had significantly lower cooking loss and water absorption. Therefore, the use of oleogel positively contributed to the qualities of hot air-dried noodles by improving cooking properties in addition to shortening cooking time.