Design a steam chamber to avoid over gelatinization thus producing straight and single form of rice noodles strings

Design a steam chamber to avoid over gelatinization thus producing straight and single form of rice noodles strings

Over gelatinization of extruded rice noodles during open wet steam cooking is a major problem in the food processing industry and occurs due to the condensation of water droplets that come into contact with noodle strings during the steaming process. This issue may arise due to the presence of stuck noodles in the finished product. Therefore, 5 prototype designs; wooden frame enclosed with polythene sheet (A), wooden frame enclosed with gray cloth (B), wooden frame enclosed with a plywood sheet with two steam inlets in the galvanized door (C), wooden frame enclosed with plywood sheet with multiple steam inlets in the galvanized door (D), and completely enclosed galvanized chamber were made (E). All steam chambers had multiple steam inlets in lateral walls except the chamber with gray cloth. Red rice noodles were prepared from the combination (16% w/w moisture, 200 μm, water at ambient temperature (30±2℃), control atmosphere, 20 min) and fed into five different types of prototype designs to complete the cooking (gelatinization) process. The performance of the five prototype designs was evaluated in terms of the percentage of dried noodles coming out of each design in a single straight form. According to the results, the percentage of dried noodles coming out of each design was (A-50.0±7.1%, B-15.0±5.0%, C-15.0±5.0%, D-50.0±7.1%, E-77.5±4.3% w/w) analyzed. The mean values of all designs revealed that the effective prototype design was “design E” (steam chamber consisted of a completely enclosed galvanized chamber with multiple steam inlets in the two lateral sides). It was able to produce a higher percentage of straight single noodles when compared to other designs. In conclusion, design E is the effective steam chamber to produce straight single rice noodles for the market. The design of a steam chamber is also a very important aspect to avoid over gelatinization thus producing straight and single form of rice noodles strings.