Dried egg noodles, whole grain dried noodles, nutritionally fortified dried noodles... The selection of dried noodles in the supermarket is quite extensive. If you're busy at work or just feeling lazy, you probably keep some dried noodles at home. But do you really know what makes a good dried noodle?
When buying dried noodles, the main thing to look at is the "sodium" content.
Sodium chloride is added during the production of dried noodles because it makes the noodles whiter and shinier, and helps reduce cooking time.
However, a bowl of cooked dried noodles can contain 3 grams of salt, even if you don't add a single drop of soy sauce, just from the plain noodles themselves.
Don't believe it? Look at the nutrition facts of a certain brand of dried noodles: the "sodium" content is 1200 mg/100g, which means a 100g serving (2 liang) contains 3g of salt (400mg sodium = 1g salt), accounting for 60% of your daily salt allowance, not to mention the various seasonings you mix in. This means that even a bowl of noodles with no seasonings already contains this much salt without you realizing it. Therefore, when buying dried noodles, the main thing to look at is the "sodium" column, and try to choose products with a low "sodium" content.
For mung bean noodles, avoid those with the word "refined" in the name.
Mung bean noodles are also very popular. There are "mung bean cooling noodles" and some "mung bean nutritional noodles" specifically for children. People might think that seeing "mung bean powder" on the ingredient list means they have a cooling and heat-clearing effect. But if the ingredient list says "refined mung bean powder" or "purified mung bean powder," you should not buy them. Once the word "refined" is added, most of the vitamins and minerals are lost during the milling process. Even worse, some "mung bean noodles" don't even list mung beans in their ingredients.
Buckwheat noodles are also popular, but regular buckwheat flour is white. If the dried noodles are not specifically labeled as being made from tartary buckwheat or black tartary buckwheat, they generally should not have a dark color.
For egg noodles, what's added is "egg yolk powder."
Egg noodles are the top-selling among all "nutritional noodles," and many people assume they contain real eggs. However, what they don't know is that making dried noodles with fresh eggs requires a very strict process; any misstep can lead to off-flavors or spoilage. Therefore, adding egg yolk powder (or whole egg powder) has become the preferred choice for most noodle manufacturers.
Egg yolk powder is made by drying the egg liquid through multiple processes into a powder, which makes it easier to store and transport, but it also loses some of the nutritional value of the eggs. The amount added to most dried noodles is generally between 5% and 8%, and rarely exceeds 10%. If too much egg were added, the noodles would become hard in texture, and of course, manufacturers wouldn't want to lose money on such a product.
Vegetable noodles have the vegetable's flavor but not its nutrition.
In the supermarket, "children's vegetable noodles" take up a considerable amount of shelf space. Whether it's shiitake mushrooms, spinach, celery, or tomatoes, after the process of juicing, mixing with the dough, and drying, the vitamin nutrients are almost completely lost. What remains is mostly just the flavor of the vegetables and a minimal amount of nutrients, making them not an optimal nutritional food for children.
Some nutritionally fortified noodles have iodine, iron, zinc, and other nutrients artificially added during production. If the specific amounts added are listed, you can purchase them according to your own needs. However, for consumers with a generally balanced diet and nutrition, there is no need to choose this type of noodle.
A small reminder: Avoid dried noodles containing sodium carbonate.
Dried noodles have a chewy texture because sodium chloride (table salt) or sodium carbonate (edible alkali) is added during production. However, adding sodium carbonate can destroy the nutrients in wheat products, greatly reducing their nutritional value.