Asian Products

I am delighted to introduce the 2019 Focus Issue of Cereal Chemistry on Asian Products. Grain-based Asian products have been consumed for thousands of years and have supported more than half of the world’s population for centuries. Products such as Asian noodles are not only staple foods in Asia but have come to be widely accepted around the world. Outside of Asia, noodles are made primarily from wheat flour; within Asia, however, noodles are made from diverse raw materials such as wheat, rice, or buckwheat flour and starches derived from a variety of pulses or legumes. In the last 20 to 30 years, there has been a growing global interest in Asian noodles, primally due to industry expansion, marketing, migration, and change of dietary habits. While we often think of Asian products solely in terms of noodles, many other traditional Asian flour-based products have drawn researchers recently. Several of these are covered in this Focus Issue. While in recent years great progress has been made in scientific research and technological development to improve grain quality, modernize processing technology, and significantly increase the end-use quality and health benefits of these traditional foods, there remains much to discover and learn in the coming years. This issue features three review articles: on manufacturing, flour quality requirements, and quality evaluation for steamed bread; processing, quality improvement, and nutritional and health benefits of whole wheat noodles; and advances in present-day frozen dough technology. These reviews are supported by a series of research articles on processing and fermentation technologies, sensory evaluation, and functional and nutritional qualities of a diverse range of products: steamed bread, steamed rice cake, white salted noodles, and whole wheat chapatti flat bread. There is much to learn from this Focus Issue of Cereal Chemistry, which will make a useful contribution to this important area in food science. A single-topic issue such as this allows related work on a highlighted area to be published together, increasing exposure and showing the breadth of research. The journal’s expanded footprint in Asia due to the partnership with Wiley will make this focus issue especially pertinent to new readers of Cereal Chemistry. The guest editorial team of Larisa Cato, Gary G. Hou, and Weining Huang have done an excellent job in putting together this Focus Issue on Asian Products. I congratulate them and thank them most sincerely for their efforts.