An Improvement of Quality Preservation of Unboiled Japanese Buckwheat Noodle "Nihon-soba".

Unboiled Japanese buckwheat noodle “Nihon-soba” is a perishable product when stored at room temperature. In order to find effective food additives for the quality preservation of this noodle, commercial food additive A-N was tested, together with lactic acid. A-N was a mixed compound of lysozyme 23.7%, glycine 49.8%, fumalic acid 17.5%, sodium caseinate 1.5%, and glycerol-fatty acid ester 7.5%. Although no inhibitory effect on microbial growth was observed at 0.2% lactic acid, and the control 0.5% A-N and the mixed use of 0.5% A-N and 0.2% lactic acid showed inhibitory effects on microbial growth. This combination use of 0.2% lactic acid and 0.5% A-N had clearly much more inhibitory effect than their individual effects. In semi-dried samples, 0.5% A-N and 0.2% lactic acid, as well as their combination uses, appeared to have considerable effect on maintaining the quality of the buckwheat noodles compared with the control.