Noodle research The department’s Peter Marrett and Japanese noodle expert Yosuke Shinkai, from Nippon Flour Mills, cook ramen noodles for evaluation. It’s a soup, it’s ramen noodles, and it’s the best value you’ll ever find in Japanese grocery stores. The department has been working with Japanese flour mills to cultivate a market for Western Australian wheat in making ramen noodles. These noodles represent about 35% of all noodles manufactured in Japan and are consumed as a soup base by the population of around 130 million. In a market worth $500 million annually, this represents an enormous opportunity for the state’s wheat industry. For the past two years, the department has been working with the Nisshin and Nippon Flour Mills—Japan’s two biggest operators—to determine the suitability of current and emerging Western Australian wheat varieties for ramen noodle production. Fieldwork and sensory evaluation trials involving an expert tasting panel and visiting Japanese experts suggest some advanced breeding lines show potential. The department was instrumental in encouraging recent changes to classifications, which will open the way for suitable hard wheat varieties to be sold for the ramen noodle market. We are now focused on establishing price premiums for the market to help the Western Australian grains industry capitalise on this new, high value market.
Noodle research The department’s Peter Marrett and Japanese noodle expert Yosuke Shinkai, from Nippon Flour Mills, cook ramen noodles for evaluation. It’s a soup, it’s ramen noodles, and it’s the best value you’ll ever find in Japanese grocery stores. The department has been working with Japanese flour mills to cultivate a market for Western Australian wheat in making ramen noodles. These noodles represent about 35% of all noodles manufactured in Japan and are consumed as a soup base by the population of around 130 million. In a market worth $500 million annually, this represents an enormous opportunity for the state’s wheat industry. For the past two years, the department has been working with the Nisshin and Nippon Flour Mills—Japan’s two biggest operators—to determine the suitability of current and emerging Western Australian wheat varieties for ramen noodle production. Fieldwork and sensory evaluation trials involving an expert tasting panel and visiting Japanese experts suggest some advanced breeding lines show potential. The department was instrumental in encouraging recent changes to classifications, which will open the way for suitable hard wheat varieties to be sold for the ramen noodle market. We are now focused on establishing price premiums for the market to help the Western Australian grains industry capitalise on this new, high value market.
Department%20of%20Agriculture%20and%20Food%20Annual%20report%202011%20-%20Word.docx