Impact of various tea infusions on the cooking, texture, and microstructure of fresh white salted noodles

The current study investigated the novel impacts of teas, microbial transglutaminase (MTG), and soy protein isolate (SPI) combinations on the cooking characteristics, pH of dough and noodles, color, texture, tensile strength, and microstructure of white-salted noodles (WSN). Sodium chloride (NaCl) was added at 1.5g, with MTGSPI-teas containing 2.5% green tea (GT), oolong tea (OT), black tea (BT), or white tea (WT), along with 1.5% MTG and 5% SPI of flour weight. The optimal cooking time of tea-infused noodles was shorter (6–6.5 min) than that of WSN-NaCl (control) and WSN-MTGSPI (8 min). Control and WSN-MTGSPI-WT yielded the highest cooking yields, while WSN-MTGSPI showed the lowest cooking loss. Tea additives influenced dough pH, with WSN-MTGSPI-GT exhibiting the highest pH after cooking. All WSN shifted towards yellower tones. WSN-MTGSPI, WSN-MTGSPI-GT, WSN-MTGSPI-BT, and WSN-MTGSPI-OT were firmer than control. WSN-MTGSPI-BT emerged as notable tea-infused noodles, displaying reduced cooking durations, firmer textures, and denser microstructure compared to control. These findings showed that the incorporation of tea, especially BT, with MTG and SPI improved the quality of WSN, offering a novel enhancement, suggesting potential for developing premium, health-oriented noodle products.