When summer arrives, many people's appetites plummet. At this time, wouldn't it be wonderful to have some cold skin noodles, rice noodles, or sour and spicy vermicelli? Their cool and smooth texture is truly refreshing. In the usual impression, foods like vermicelli and wide rice noodles are classified as dishes, and the dishes made from them do not appear in the staple food section on a restaurant menu. In fact, if we trace their roots back, they are distant relatives of staples like rice, wheat, beans, and sweet potatoes.
Rice noodles are made from fermented rice through a process of grinding, filtering, steaming, pressing, and washing. Foods like cold jelly, vermicelli, and wide rice noodles are made from various beans and tubers, with a wide variety of types such as mung bean vermicelli, broad bean vermicelli, sweet potato vermicelli, and potato vermicelli. Cold skin noodles, on the other hand, are made from flour. Then, a round-bottomed, pot-like utensil is placed in a pot of boiling water. A layer of oil is spread on this utensil, a small amount of the batter, after its water has been drained, is placed on it, and it is then heated.
Although foods like vermicelli originate from rice and wheat, their refined processing can lead to an increase, not a decrease, in calories. Foods like vermicelli and pea noodles have higher calories than rice and wheat. Those who want to control their weight or have "three highs" (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids) should be cautious when eating noodle-based foods. If a dish includes cold skin noodles or vermicelli, the intake of staple foods should be appropriately reduced to avoid obesity or blood sugar fluctuations. In addition to noodle-based foods, the same principle applies when consuming other high-starch foods like edamame, soybeans, broad beans, potatoes, Chinese yams, and taro.
Of course, there are two special types of noodles that you can eat more of. One is fern root noodles, derived from bracken, and the other is konjac, which looks like vermicelli but is very low in calories. Fern root noodles are rich in trace elements such as iron, zinc, and selenium, as well as various amino acids. They have effects such as promoting bowel movements, clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing fat and lowering blood pressure, and also have medicinal functions like cancer prevention and liver protection. Konjac is rich in dietary fiber, various amino acids, and trace elements. Regular consumption can cleanse the intestines, lower cholesterol, reduce high blood pressure, and has a beneficial effect in preventing and treating diabetes.