Freshly cooked noodles belong to high moisture foods, and the key issue in their storage is to prevent microbial spoilage. The acid leaching process is a process of soaking fresh and cooked noodles in acid solution at room temperature after they have matured. Generally speaking, the minimum pH required for microbial growth is around 4.3. When it drops below pH 4.3, most microorganisms find it difficult to survive, and even a few can grow, their reproductive ability is greatly weakened. Therefore, reducing the acidity of fresh and cooked noodles to a certain pH can effectively inhibit the growth and reproduction of microorganisms, and play a role in extending the shelf life of fresh and cooked noodles.
Generally, natural organic acids such as malic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, etc. are used as acidity regulators. After multiple experiments and comparisons, it is believed that lactic acid has a softer taste, is not irritating, and the adjusted pH of the acid is relatively stable. Moreover, lactic acid is a beneficial acid that can increase digestion and absorption in the human body. Therefore, lactic acid is chosen as an acidity regulator.
The acidity of freshly cooked noodles is jointly affected by the acidity of the acid solution and the pickling time. In the experiment, it was found that if the acid soaking time is too long, it will significantly increase the water absorption of the noodles, causing them to soften and swell, decrease their toughness, and affect their taste. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly control the acid soaking time.
Our fresh and cooked noodles production equipment at Dongfang Naomu Food Machinery Co., Ltd. adopts a multifunctional quantitative cooking, water washing, and acid adjustment integrated system. Multi quality noodles can switch cooking time, unmanned automatic cooking, and three-stage water washing PH and lactic acid adjustment to ensure consistent quality of each pack of noodles.