INVESTIGATION OF EMPIRICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL SOBA NOODLE TEXTURE PARAMETERS PREPARED WITH TARTARY, GREEN TESTA AND COMMON BUCKWHEAT

Soba noodles were prepared from brown tartary, green testa and two common buckwheat variety flours with Canada Western Red Spring flour (13.0% protein) and a lower protein (11.5%), but stronger dough strength, Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) flour. Empirical, fundamental and the new Elastic Index (EI) parameter all demonstrated that the lower protein, stronger gluten CPSR variety 5701, yielded superior textural attributes. Tartary buckwheat flour noodle blends' empirical texture results (maximum cutting stress, resistance to compression and recovery) indicated they produced soba noodles with superior texture than the other buckwheat flours because of the lower level of dietary fiber, elevated starch content and lower cooking water uptake. Fundamental tests, such as stress relaxation percent at 20 s, extent of relaxation (K2), loading work and unloading work of tartary buckwheat noodles showed significant differences from the other buckwheat noodles. Among soba noodles, tartary buckwheat noodles had significantly greater (P < 0.05) elastic-like properties (higher K2 and EI). The EI parameter was significantly correlated (P < 0.005) with all empirical and fundamental rheological parameters.