I just opened an oldish can of soup and the noodles have been submerged in liquid for months yet the flour and stuff in the noodles doesnt disintegrate into mush, yet when you try to chew it there’s zero resistance and it feels like you’re chewing nothing, why?
In: 418
Noodle starts as solid piece, very thin (Usually wheat).
Noodle becomes full size when it absorbs water content.
Noodle (in soup) is mostly water. Water does not have much resistance in this context therefore noodle also has little resistance.
Pasta doesn’t really start to disintegrate until you start boiling. That why a lot of places that serve a soup with pasta all day don’t add the pasta until right before they serve it in your bowl.
They use what are called alkaline noodles, which means the noodles include a high amount of alkaline salt such as sodium carbonate. When noodles include this ingredient, they will only absorb so much liquid and are not fully soluble in water.
Noodles also often are heavily kneaded. For wheat noodles this often means that gluten are developed. Gluten are enzymes which when stretched, create lattices which allow them to retain their shape while trapping water in the noodle.
The se happens in bread, but instead of water the gluten lattice traps air bubbles instead.
Up to a certain temperature it keeps it’s shape but if you keep the can in a warm / hot area it is likely to get soggy .. if you empty the can and heat it at some point the pasta will loose it’s shape and becomes mushy.
The lack of heat / temperature plus all the added preservatives and keeping it in a dry cook place keeps it as is.
Says my mother
The answer is something to do with PH levels. You Add baked bicarbonate of soda to the flour mixture when making ramen noodles.
I never really got to understand why this is but I am going to assume it’s something along the same lines as soaking corn in lye water before grinding to make masa.
Anyone got the ELI5 for me I would forever be in your debt.
Because they are made from dough that contains gluten. Gluten is a protein that forms a network of strands when flour is mixed with water, and this network helps to give the dough its elasticity and strength. When the dough is rolled out and cut into noodles, the gluten strands remain intact, providing the noodles with their shape and structure.
When noodles are cooked in liquid, the heat causes the gluten strands to firm up and become more rigid, which helps the noodles to retain their shape. This is why noodles that are cooked for a shorter amount of time, such as al dente pasta, tend to be more firm and retain their shape better than noodles that are cooked for a longer time.
Overall, the gluten in noodles is what allows them to retain their shape in liquid for a long time, even as they are being cooked.
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It’s likely that the noodles in the soup you opened were made with durum wheat flour, which is a type of wheat that is particularly high in gluten. Gluten is a protein that gives dough its elasticity and helps it maintain its shape. When flour is mixed with water and kneaded, the gluten forms long, stretchy strands that give noodles their chewiness and ability to hold their shape. Even after being cooked and then left in liquid for an extended period of time, the noodles will still retain their shape because the gluten in the dough is able to withstand the effects of the liquid.
Noodles are made from a type of dough that is rolled out and cut into long, thin strands. When you cook noodles in water, the heat from the water makes the dough soft and pliable, which allows the noodles to retain their shape for a longer period of time.
The dough used to make noodles also contains a special ingredient called gluten, which helps the dough to hold its shape. Gluten is a protein that gives the dough elasticity and strength, which helps the noodles to maintain their shape and texture even when they are cooked in liquid.
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