STARCH SWELLING POWER, GRAIN HARDNESS AND PROTEIN - RELATIONSHIP TO SENSORY PROPERTIES OF JAPANESE NOODLES

The starch swelling power tests have been reported to be a promising method for predicting the eating quality of Japanese white salted noodles. The relationships between starch swelling power and noodle eating quality were examined for a range of commercial Australian wheat cultivars from two growth seasons. Starch swelling power was found to be dependent on the cultivar, growth site and growth season of the wheat. Analyses of the first season's samples showed highly significant relationships between swelling power and most noodle quality parameters (r2 = 0.16 - 0.45, P < 0.01). The inclusion of wheat protein and wheat softness (PSI) with starch swelling power in multiple regression equations provided improved relationships to most noodle quality parameters (r2 = 0.25 - 0.62, P < 0.01). When tested on data from the second growth season, the predictions were useful, especially for the noodle parameters elasticity and eating quality.