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Solvent Retention Capacity (SRC) application to analyze Korean-favorite noodle flour quality
M. YOUNG (1), M. Kweon (1), S. Jeon (1) (1) Pusan National University, , Korea.

Korea imports most of the wheat it uses, predominantly from the United States, Australia and Canada, because wheat production in Korea is relatively small. Most of the imported flour is milled as all-purpose flour, but the production of stronger-gluten flour for bread and weaker-gluten flour for cookies and cakes is much smaller. More than fifty percent of total flour is used for noodle production. Flour quality contributes predominantly to noodle quality, and starch and protein content in the flour are known as key contributors. Rheological tests such as Farinograph and Amylograph, and noodle making test have been commonly used for evaluating noodle flour quality. However, Solvent Retention Capacity (SRC), which can predict flour quality contributed by individual functional component, has not been applied. In this study, three preferred and three non-preferred noodle flours were analyzed using SRC, proximate analysis, amylose and amylopectin content, and damaged starch content to evaluate Korean-favorite noodle flour quality. The SRC results showed noodle flours have relatively high values of water and sodium carbonate values compared to other flours. Amylose content of the noodle flours were lower than those of other flours. But, damaged starch content of all flour samples were not significantly different. Overall results indicated that higher SRC values with sodium carbonate solution were contributed by increased extents of solvent-accessible amylopectin due to higher amylopectin content, rather than by damaged starch content. Moreover, this study could help interpret obviously higher sodium carbonate SRC values (greater than 100%) correctly.