The quality characteristics of noodles made from domestic Korean wheat flour added with 0, 1, 3, 5% cactus Chounnyuncho (Opuntia humifusa) powder were investigated. The water absorption and peak time of dough, as determined by farinography, increased with higher cactus powder content. Stability and elasticity of dough decreased as fermentation proceeded. Cooking characteristics of noodles made from dough such as weight, water absorption, and volume decreased with higher cactus powder content. The turbidity of cooked water increased significantly with 5% cactus powder content. For color test, L-value decreased while a-value and b-value increased with higher cactus powder content. In texture analyses, hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, and gumminess increased with higher cactus powder content. In the sensory test, noodles containing 3% cactus powder were the most preferred.

The physicochemical characteristics of 4 domestic wheat flour products were compared to those of 4 imported wheat flour products marketed in Korea. The contents of moisture, ash, protein, total dietary fiber (TDF), color (L, a, b), whiteness, solvent retention capacity (SRC), water absorption index (WAI), water soluble index (WSI), pasting characteristics by rapid visco analyzer (RVA), and principle component analysis (PCA) were analyzed. The domestic wheat flour products were composed of higher content in ash and protein, compared to the imported wheat flour products. The domestic wheat flour products had lower SRC and WSI characteristics than the imported wheat flour products. The values of lactic acid SRC (LASRC) in the imported wheat flour products showed an increasing trend as the protein content increased. The differences in viscosity were observed in the domestic wheat flour products. However, no major significant differences of viscosity were found among the imported wheat flour products. The result of PCA showed a consistent trend in the imported wheat flour (strong, medium, and weak), while a consistent trend was not shown in the domestic wheat flour products. Therefore, further research is needed to standardize the different types of domestic wheat flour products.

In this study, consumer acceptance and sensory intensity evaluations were performed on sponge cakes prepared with domestic and imported cake flours. Specific volume data as well as cross-sectional photograph observations confirmed that the imported flour sample group had greater volume than the domestic flour groups. The imported flour sample group also had a significantly (p<0.05) higher mean overall acceptability score at 5.82; however, it was not significantly different from the domestic white flour sample group (5.40). There was no significant difference in overall texture acceptance between samples prepared with imported and domestic white flours; however, their scores were significantly higher than that of the domestic whole flour group (p<0.05). Consumer acceptances of color significantly decreased as the orders of cake group prepared using the imported, domestic white, and domestic whole flours with the values of 6.48, 5.72 and 4.61, respectively (p<0.05). Acceptance of the air cell and the acceptance and intensity of sweetness did not show significant differences between the imported and domestic white flour group.

Physicochemical and sensory properties of sponge cakes using 2 kinds of domestic wheat flour(white flour, whole wheat flour) and imported cake flour were investigated. In the proximate analysis, white flour had higher contents of water and protein compared with those of imported flour. Whole wheat flour had the highest contents of protein, lipid and ash. Regarding the batter, imported flour sample showed lower specific gravity and higher viscosity than those of domestic flour sample, implying that there was more air incorporation and higher batter stability. As a result, imported flour batter produced larger cake compared to that of domestic flour batter. But indexes of symmetry and uniformity showed no significant difference among the samples. In textural analysis using rheometer, cakes with imported flour were softer compared with that with domestic flour. In gumminess and brittleness, cakes with domestic white flour showed the highest value while that with the imported flour showed the lowest value. For the color measurements of cake crumb, no significant difference in DE was found among the samples. Regarding the cross-sections of the cake observed using SEM, imported flour produced cake with smaller and more even air cells compared to that with the domestic flour cake. In sensory evaluation, cakes with the domestic white flour showed the highest moistness value. But there was no significant difference in springiness, firmness, adhesiveness and ease of swallow among the samples. In conclusion, cakes with domestic white flour and whole wheat flour were as good as that with imported cake flour for the sponge cake preparation.