Abstract:

In order to overcome the disadvantages of the traditional evaluation method for noodle quality, seven texture
parameters of noodles made under different proofing conditions were analyzed using principal component analysis. As
they contributed to 84.41% of the cumulative variance, three new independent indexes i.e., hardness factor as the first
principal component (Z1), resilience factor as the second principal component (Z2) and elasticity factor as the third principal
component (Z3) were established to be related to the quality of noodles. The principal component analysis showed that the
contribution rates of the first, second and third principal components were 40.20%, 27.84% and 16.37%, respectively, which
could represent the changing trends of noodles texture. By analyzing the principal component scores for the noodles made
under the proofing conditions studied, principal component analysis is feasible to evaluate the texture of noodles.

Key words: noodles, proofing, principal component analysis, texture properties