Changes in textural properties of Japanese tenobe somen noodles during storage.

Tenobe somen (TS) noodles are traditional Japanese wheat-based noodles that are produced manually using a sophisticated method called tenobe (literally, "hand stretched"). In the tension test, both the tensile strength and extensibility of TS noodles were greater than those of machine-made (MS) noodles. In the biting test, the chewy texture of TS noodles was realized in the analysis of the force-deformation curves of each type of somen noodles. The creep test indicated a clear difference between the external and internal elasticity of TS noodles. The texture of TS noodles appeared to change dramatically during storage in the rainy season. In addition, firm and chewy textures of TS noodles stored for 20 mo were observed. Similar to the results from our previous study, TS noodles exhibited significantly higher dityrosine content than the flour used for their manufacture. However, the increase in the dityrosine content during the manufacturing process was not observed in the case of MS noodles. Although clear textural differences were observed between TS noodles stored for 0 and 20 mo, the dityrosine contents of TS noodles at each stage were not largely different.