1 the birth of instant noodles and its development in Japan
Noodles are a traditional Japanese food. Although Japanese people are famous for cherishing time, even at work, they prefer to queue up in front of restaurants for a bowl of hot noodles. This phenomenon was noticed by the manager of a company, Tadao Ando. He thought, "It takes too much time to make noodles. Why not make it easier? " ? So people don't have to wait in line "With this idea, Ando Centurion immediately began to trial-produce instant noodles.
He set five conditions when developing: 1 must be simple; 2 must be delicious and nutritious; 3 must be able to store at room temperature for a long time; 4 must be hygienic; 5 must be cheap.
However, this kind of surface is not an ordinary surface. Ando Baifu is a kind of pickled food that can be mass-produced by factories. He bought a flour mill and started trial production. What is rolled out with a rolling pin is not noodles, but a block like foam. After repeated experiments, the reason was found out: protein in flour lost its viscosity when it met salt. So he first made ordinary noodles with salt-free flour, steamed them, dipped them in miso soup, and the noodles became salty. This little skill of carving insects is tantamount to a revolution in pasta technology. The next step is how to dry the noodles for long-term preservation. At first, he used the original method of drying noodles in the sun, but it took too long and needed manual operation, which was not suitable for large-scale industrial production. He tried oiling, and the effect was very good. After frying, the water evaporates immediately, and many fine holes appear on the noodles, which makes the noodles absorb a lot of water and soften quickly when soaked in hot water. Moreover, oiled noodles are more elastic and taste better, comparable to ordinary noodles. The earliest batch of instant noodles is the "chicken instant noodles" known to all ages today. It was first put on the market in August, 1958.
As Tadao Ando expected, it immediately caused a sensation and obtained explosive sales. In April of 1959 alone,130,000 packs of "chicken instant noodles" were sold. This has caused other Japanese noodle manufacturers to intervene in the competition in the instant noodle industry. 1960+ 10. In October, Ito Aoi sora, a noodle manufacturer, made instant noodles that diners could season at will by adding seasoning packages, and squeezed into this emerging market. So there are two kinds of instant noodles on the market: one is instant noodles without seasoning package, and the other is instant noodles with seasoning package. At first, An Teng Baifu's instant noodles sold well because of its patent right, but soon consumers began to favor instant noodles with seasoning bags. Because it can meet the different needs of many consumers for taste intensity, it is welcomed by the market. However, the large-scale production of seasonings is a difficult problem, and a Tokyo food company interested in developing this field has solved this problem. Since 1962, they have made instant coffee and seasoning powder by spray drying, and achieved very ideal results. Since then, seasoned instant noodles have occupied the main position in the market. In view of the fact that instant noodles have been mass-produced by many companies, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has formulated JAS specifications for instant noodles and published them in Japan's food industry. In this way, instant noodles have grown from an early naive product to a popular standardized product with a stable market.
2 The development history of instant noodles in China
The development of instant noodles in China began at 1970, and the first bag of instant noodles in China was "born" in Shanghai Yimin Food Factory 4. The machine for making this instant noodle is China's own homemade equipment, with an annual output of only 200 tons. In 1980s, more than 100 production lines imported from Japan and other countries and regions quickly blossomed all over the country. By 1989, there are 280 instant noodle production lines in China, with an annual production capacity of 700,000 tons. After six years, the production capacity of 1995 soared to 7 million tons. Due to the blind expansion of production in previous years, the growth rate of instant noodle production has been slow in recent years.