How Factory Noodles are Made in Japan

sponsored by squarespace this is how factory noodles are made in japan so i'm back with another made in japan video and this time we are in yamanashi and the good folks at hakubaku have allowed me to show you guys how japanese noodles are made in a factory but like always if you guys want to see what i'm doing on the daily check out my instagram account if you guys want to help support the channel check out the japan merch and if you guys have any questions about japan and japan travels check out my discord community okay so i've made it inside but in order for me to go into the factory i'm gonna need a change so let's do that now cool that was easy i got my coat on but we need to find someone in order to get into the factory let's see if we can find someone now excuse me can i go inside the factory with you hi okay noodles like udon and someone are a popular mainstay in japanese food culture which is why hakuba have been creating their specialized dry noodles since 1959 now employing 420 hardworking staff to make it all happen each and every day and it's no surprise that their noodles have become a standard at family dining tables all throughout japan in fact we've been serving their baby noodles to our son ever since he could start eating solids which is why i'm so excited to take you on this factory tour today to show you how noodles are truly made in japan first thing in the morning the flower for the noodles are delivered to the factory this is where it all starts [Music] the trucks are connected directly to a pipe on the facade of the building which feeds directly into larger tanks housed in the factory using a blend of different types of flour delivered to different tanks the factory is able to craft their own specialized noodles the flower is delivered in these huge truck tankers up to three to four times a day as the factory consumes about 11 tons of flour during peak times so just behind me right here the ingredients come down from the ceiling and they go into these mixer machines after receiving the flour flour and water are combined in order to create a bouncy texture in the noodles the company's mixture increases their water ratio compared to most other makers and performs their mixing in a vacuum state which allows the water to permeate the flower which creates a denser gluten ultimately producing their own unique and signature noodles this machine is able to mix 200 kilograms about 440 pounds of dough at once and during peak summer production times they run up to 70 times a day creating about 12 tons of dry noodles after maturing for 20 to 40 minutes it's conveyored into their custom pressing machines which applies pressure both vertically and horizontally ultimately creating a smooth and elastic structure a total of six roller sections are implemented as each set of rollers creates a thinner and thinner dough and depending on the product the machine can press the dough as thin as one to two millimeters [Music] when it reaches the final roller stage the noodles are automatically cut with a threaded roller hung on metal poles and then ready for the drying process the factory switches between 11 different threaded rollers called kitty hawk to produce at various types of noodles what's going on here let's find out hi what are you doing nothing now one of the most critical parts the drying process the noodles are hung and cycled gradually through eight different rooms with varying temperatures humidity and air blower strengths which runs a total length of 400 meters about 430 yards or up to 16 hours ensuring that the center of the noodle is completely dried preventing breakage let's see what's going on on this side of the factory [Music] after the noodles have completely dried they're brought into the cutting and packaging area uniquely the factory invented and developed specialized production line machines to cut bundle and package their noodles in total about 60 of these marvelous time-saving machines were built by their in-house engineering team hakuba in fact create many other barley based products but in this noodle factory they produce 55 different types of noodles focusing on making two to three types each day [Music] oh wow it looks like this lady is replacing the bundling tape [Music] by developing and supporting their machines in-house they're able to quickly customize for a variety of noodle products for example in japan the standard noodle length is 20 centimeters but since smaller pots have become popular these days the factory quickly adapted to make shorter versions oh cool what's this let's see what they're doing so this is the packaging area for the baby noodles with a length of two and a half centimeters a lot shorter than standard noodles so parents don't have to cut it at home as a parent myself anything to save time on meal prep is very much appreciated [Music] just look at these machines go package after package coming down the line hi can i ask you a question hi guys over there so what's the most important thing about packaging [Music] now to the final stage the products are sorted boxed and loaded onto pallets for delivery this process is fully automated as even the conveyors are able to recognize the different types of boxes to feed to the correct pickup location there's even an automated crane that's able to sort the different types of boxes and stack them perfectly [Music] and there you go the noodles are ready for delivery quickly before we continue on i want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor for this video squarespace if you all don't already know squarespace is the number one way to build your online presence in fact i use squarespace for my website tokyo zebra here are just some of the reasons why i love using squarespace so much whether you're starting your passion project or building a business squarespace has all the tools to get it done while also looking ultra sleek and professional at the same time they support numerous portfolios 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regularly from their package products and a slew of tests are performed every day let's see what she's doing excuse me what are you working on sodium tests are especially important because they also offer sodium free noodle products but they also run tests on things like flour only the ones which pass the rigorous testing are used in the factory and wow the lab has so much equipment these are used to analyze a residue of agricultural chemicals and this one is to clean the pipettes so cool [Music] oh damn is this a taste testing so this is called kannohyoka a blind taste test of their products the team also conduct a shishoku hyouka an open taste testing of their products for quality such as taste and color followed up with a group discussion excuse so what do you think man we are exploring today let's see what's beyond this door yo [Music] how often do the machines break down what's the most challenging part of the job so apparently these are the engineers that build the factory machines from design programming testing all the way to the final build it's amazing that the company not only makes noodles but they make the machines that help them craft the noodles definitely worthy of the title made in japan and it looks like they do maintenance on all the equipment here these bad boys are the tools used to curve shape drill and build their product line machines so dope [Music] so this is the product development area where all the new products come to life the workers use these scaled scaled-down versions of their factory machines to create prototypes this machine here is similar to the large six roller press found in the factory but instead of being done automatically the dough has to be fed by hand a little bit more work but to the same effect how many times you need to press the dough now he changes the roller to a noodle cutter similar to what we saw in the factory having threads of different sizes allows them to develop different types of noodles apparently the team creates about four to five prototypes a year but only one or two ever make it to market unfortunately he can't share what he's working on but i'm digging the green noodles finally he places the noodles in a specialized tank to dry for later testing and development so that's how noodles are made in japan let me know what you thought in the comments if you guys like this video help me out and hit that like button if you guys want to see more videos like this made in japan videos or anything related to japan hit that subscribe button and the bell button and i'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 1,190,123

Keywords: Paolo, Japan, made in japan, food factory, noodle factory, japanese food tour, japanese factory, factory in japan, somen noodles, udon noodles, working in japan, factory work in japan, noodle making process, how noodles are made, dry noodles, dry noodle factory, japanese factory food, japanese factory work, japan factory tour, japanese factory tour, hakubaku, baby noodles, noodle factory japan, food, noodles, japan made, はくばく, japanese food, factory work, factory food

Id: -3D_x3qfmNs

Length: 11min 38sec (698 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 12 2021