Buyer's Compendium

Nong Shim, founded in 1965, is one of the best known ramen brand locally and is very well regarded, as none of its ramen we have listed were bad. Its Shin’s labels are the hottest spicy ramen we know of.

In 2005, Nong Shim America opened its 268,000 square feet manufacturing and distribution facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Nong Shim is considered to be the largest Asian noodle manufacturer in the world with plants throughout Korea and other part of Asia.

With original inventories finally gone near the end of 2005, we are getting the popular Shin Ramen from its American facility, which added beef flavoring to it, in line with the rest of the Shin brands. The most notable sign of the change is the use of “Gourmet Spicy” instead of “Hot & Spicy” on its package.

We starting to see more products switched over to California’s, but not everyone welcome the switch, as dedicated fans of the original imports will notice that the tastes have changed a bit quickly. The one manufactured here have been reformulated to use less MSG and ironically, many complain about a loss in taste. Other important ingredients like Shiitake mushroom pieces seem to be more skimpy too.

Buyer's Compendium

Samyang Food is the oldest Ramen brand in Korea. Founded in 1924, it first made ramen in 1963. Today, it’s runned by a second-generation entrepreneur who is 3rd among the 13 in his family, his second elder brother was a former prime minister.

While not as notable as its rival Nong Shim brand here, it’s a first-class brand in Korea. We’re starting to see newer items from Samyang recently. Its ramen represent the milder side of Korean’s ramen, though some are spicy hot.

Buyer's Compendium

Regular instant ramen noodles are made from wheat flour without egg, precooked and then quick fried to dry. This is how instant ramen was invented and the first “instant” noodle even had pre-flavored noodles - no needs for any seasoning packets.

Fried instant noodles is actually relatively low compared to many common foods for percent of calories from fats (this is not the Daily Value which can not be used for direct comparison between products, a common misconception!):

• fried instant noodle - 30%
• doughnut - 55%
• boiled egg - 60%
• beef frank - 80%

These numbers seem high, but that because you’re used to seeing the Daily Value’s only - the plain truth is that the typical diets of Americans already have more than 30% of calories from fat and it’s hard to do even a little less than this without a very restricted diets!

Newer instant noodles are breaking the mold, with many kinds of noodles developed to cook quickly. Even the air-dried noodles cook very quickly.

Ramen pros expect the noodles to have a good chewy texture and traditionally this is made by adding kansui, or alkali water (calcium and potassium carbonate) to the flour. A more modern method is to add a thickener such as tapicoa starch to it. This generally work well for thick white noodles like Japanese Udon and Korean style noodles.

The original instant noodle type does not need preservative to keep up to a year under optimal condition before there is a noticeable change in its taste. It can also be eaten as is, i.e., dried.