Global Noodles + Soups 8: Limiting myself to the instant noodles + soups I have tasted, here is information on those manufacturers. Review: Packages of instant noodles + soups.
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Vendors of Instant Noodles + Soups
Koyo Natural Foods
Koyo Natural Foods is a USA (?) company that distribute “ramen” soups (the noodles are not considered really ramen by some purists, 1), udon and sobo noodles, rice crackers and coconut milks in cans. I have tasted 5 of the noodle soups, and found them mostly all good. In fact, I will keep a few of these on hand as they just taste good, but also would be great to serve to vegan and vegetarian friends.
At this point however, while I like their food, I find it strange that I cannot find anything about the Koyo company. Their website does not provide any details on or about the company specifically. I used their contact form to write to them, but it has been weeks with no response. Finally, I started to read other blogs to see what others found out, nothing much it seems. Here is what I want to know:
- Are the food packages imported from China? Or, are just the noodles imported from China? Is everything manufactured in the USA?
- Who is the company that owns Koyo? Where is it located?
- What are their company’s goals and philosophy?
Under the website “terms“, I found that there is a tie to Blue Marble Brands, so I looked them up.
- Blue Marble Brands is a collection of organic, natural, and specialty food brands. Our mission is to energize our retail partners and inspire the public with our broad range of products. We are focused, innovative, and growing. With 400+ products either enrolled or verified with the Non-GMO Project, we are an industry leader in providing consumers with good foods from sources they can trust. Above all else, we are honest in our ways, collaborative in our approach, and continually challenging ourselves to bring products to market that support our mission, create momentum with our brands, and meet the needs of todayís consumer.
Special Notes: Certified organic ingredients, non-GMO, no MSG, with some reduced sodium ramen soups, and no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. They use heirloom wheat, that are traditionally milled.
Lotus Foods Inc
Lotus is a USA company with long ties to China. They produce or distribute both rice, rice-based “ramen” noodles, and instant rice-based noodle soups. Again, not really ramen noodles, but made in a ramen style. Although this is a USA company, they are importing the rice, so the food products are Chinese. These packets are generally gluten free, and use organic and healthy ingredients. They started back in 1995, with importing rice from China.
- We’re trying to Change How Rice Is Grown Around the World. We believe that by pursuing smart product innovation, better growing practices, and delicious whole grain heirloom rice varieties we’ll lessen our environmental impact, improve nutrition for our consumers and create more social and economic justice for small farmers.
I try to keep a few packages on hand for my gluten-free; visitors for I can make some simple soup for them without concerns.
Special Notes: Gluten free, Kosher, Organic ingredients, and vegan.
Mama
Mama is one of many product names used by this Thailand company: Thai President Foods Public Company Limited. This company was founded on October 2017 as a result of a merger between two other well known Thai companies. Their vision is:
- To be a world leading food producer and brand name that are well-accepted and recognized by consumers of all household for our safe and international standard products under creative and innovative management with responsibilities to social and environment for the long-term sustainability.
Nissin Foods
Nissin Foods is a large Japanese company founded by Mofuko Ando, the creator of instant ramen noodles. In the USA we see Cup Noodles, Top Ramen, Myojo, and other foods in nearly every grocery store. I have taste tested their Nissin Roah (high end) and Top Ramen (really cheap) noodle soups. I have also tasted imported packages, and some noodles + soup made in a factory in California or Pennsylvania.
The company appears to want to be a good global partner. Interestingly, in January 2012, Nissin included training on slavery and human trafficking in all of their employee ethics training. In 2016, Nissin Foods USA was the first major instant ramen manufacturer to commit to buying 100% mass balance, certified sustainable palm oil for all the products.
They do not have gluten-free products, but do have a handful of vegetarian soups; look for the green leaf. They also use TBHQ in some of their products, so read labels carefully.
Nongshim
Nongshim is a global Korean company. Their Ramyun is a noodle dish that is steamed, fried, and then dried; served with a broth. Their recipe site is absolutely wonderful; features photo’s showing exactly what to do to cut the food properly. I will be referring to this for some dishes I like eating.
The company started in 1965, and in 1986 Shinramyun was developed. They have a large community service program that works with potato farmers, family programs including scholarships and senior welfare, plus they provide free food to the needy.
Paldo Company Ltd
Paldo Company Ltd is a Korean manufacturer of all sorts of noodles. beverages, seaweed, and other foods. They started in 1983, and started global exports in 1999.
Not much else I can find. What I can say is that I did not particularly like their hot cheesy noodle soup, but did like their Jjajangmen sauce noodles. However, clearly they are speaking to their consumers who favor certain heats and flavors.
Sanyo‘s Sapporo Ichiban
Sanyo foods first noodle factory “Fuji Seimen Inc.” was established in 1953 in Gunma, Japan .
- Since the establishment of Sanyo Foods Co., … our staff has dedicated themselves to creating great tasting food. Our corporate philosophy is to make products that we can be proud of and to always put the customer first. Keeping consistent with our business ideology, we created an instant ramen that is not only delicious, but affordable and simple to make.
They advertise 0 transfat, and clearly label allergens. Usually their soups have MSG and palm oil.
Fried Noodle  | Fried noodle is made by steaming and then frying in oil. Steamed noodle is fried in oil heated up to 150˚C to lower the moisture content below 10% where no microbe can propagate. Nongshim controls the moisture of fried noodle below 7% for the longer shelf life without preservative. In the process, steamed noodle further becomes easy to cook and gets the unique flavor of ramyun. | |
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Dried Noodle  | This is not fried but dried with hot air after steaming. Steamed noodles or Hot air dried noodles are dried through the hot air drier for about 30 minutes. Compared with fried noodles, the cooking time is longer but the oil content is lower and it gives clean taste. | |
Injection Dried Noodles  | Nongshim’s injection dried noodle is made by steaming rice cake paste, pushing it through a wicker tray and naturally dryinged with hot air after rolling. It is a type of dried noodles but contains the higher ratio of rice and other cereals. The noodles become chewier if made by high pressure. | |
Raw Noodles  | Raw noodles of Nongshim is made by sterilizing steamed noodles with organic acid. With much moisture, the cooking time is shorter and the texture is closer to that of uncooked noodles. ※ Traditionally vinegar is added to increase preservability when making Gimbap. Likewise, Nongshim uses the safe organic acid(acidulant) when producing raw noodles. | |
Frozen Noodles  | After boiling noodles, they are quickly frozen(-40˚C) in the cooling water. Frozen noodles are quickly cooked only by defrozing in boiling water and they best preserve the freshness of paste. Thus, the texture is chewy and smooth as if just boiled. |
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√ Myojo Japanese Udon Soup
JFC International (USA) distributes and makes the wheat + tapioca udon noodles for this very traditional, seafood influenced broth. The package came with a single broth packet, and added Nore Komi Furkake on top for added flavor.
- The whole package serves 1.
- Per serving: 290c, 59k, 10p, 10f and 1700mg sodium.
- Total time was ~5 minutes.
- Contains a bag of udon noodles and one broth packet.
- Heat: None.
- $2.29 USD
Cooking: Boil 1.25C water, then add the noodles. Cook ~2 minutes. Right before turning off the heat, add the broth packet.
Contains MSG, seaweed, soy, fish and Bonito powder. I added some homemade Furikake seasoning to my dish.
- If you buy Chinese Furikake keep an eye out for lead in the product. I know this because California requires additional labeling, and containers of Furikake I looked at had these warnings.
√ Japanese Nissin Raoh Ramen Noodles + Soy Sauce Soup
Nissin Ramen noodles and soy sauce-flavored soup is a good bowl of umami to start the day. The wheat noodles are baked, triple layered, thick, chewy, and taste good with the broth. The broth is a soy sauce and sesame oil mixture. Although high salt, this was a very tasty soup I would eat again.
- The whole package serves 1.
- Per serving: 350c, 65k, 9p, 2f and 2400mg sodium.
- Total time was ~5 minutes.
- Contains a puck of noodles and one packet.
- Heat: None.
- $3.99 USD
Cooking: Boil 2C water, and add the noodles to cook ~3 minutes. Pour the sauce into the serving bowl. Once noodles are done, take off the heat and add the water into the bowl and mix. Then add the noodles.
I added an egg while the noodles were cooking for added protein and flavor. Would be good with sliced scallions, slice of meat, and many other savory veggies.
Contains MSG, wheat, soy products, egg and milk.
√ Sapporo Ichiban Tonkotsu Ramen
This is a light yeasty tasting chicken broth with ramen (wheat + tapioca) noodles. It has an adequate overall taste, although easily identified as containing some artificial flavoring (along with some natural ingredients). When I cooked this dish I added a scrambled egg, similar in style to an egg drop soup, and that worked well. For the price, a very good buy for an occasional dish.
- The whole package serves 1.
- Per serving: 470c, 65k, 9p, 5f and 1530mg sodium.
- Total time was ~5 minutes.
- Contains a puck of noodles and one broth packet.
- Heat: None.
- $0.34 USD
Cooking: Boil 2C water, and add the noodles to cook ~3 minutes. Take off the heat and add the broth. Pour into a bowl and serve.
Contains palm oil, milk products, and sesame seeds.
√ Nongshim USA’s Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup
This is a Korean company, but a USA made package of ramen soup has a large puck of wheat-potato starch, ramen noodles along with a hot, red broth. I liked the texture of the noodles, so perhaps I tend to like wheat + potato starch as a noodle mixture. The broth is beef-based, but again the chili heat is predominant so I cannot really taste it; but it is rich in the mouth.
- The whole package serves 2.
- Per serving: 260c, 41k, 5p, 1f and 980mg sodium.
- Total time was ~5 minutes.
- Contains a large puck of noodles and two packet (broth and dehydrated veggies).
- Heat: Mild and lingering.
- $2.89 USD
Cooking: Boil 2.33C water, add the noodle puck and packets and cook for 4.5 minutes.
Contains palm oil, MSG, wheat, soy, beef, and corn.
√ Nongshim USA Ansung Noodle Soup
This USA manufactured soup has a wheat-potato, noodle puck, with some deyhdrated veggies and a hot, beef + fermented bean flavored broth. While the soup had heat, it also presented a nice, rich tasting broth. The broth contains fish sauce, bonita and tuna, but it did not taste “fishy” and the beef-mushroom did come through.
- The whole package serves 2.
- Per serving: 270c, 42k, 6p, <1f and 940mg sodium.
- Total time was ~5 minutes.
- Contains a large puck of noodles and two packets of broth + veggies.
- Heat: Medium.
- $2.29 USD
Cooking: Boil 2C water, add the noodle puck and packets and cook for 4 minutes.
Contains palm oil, beef bone broth, soy, seaweed + fish sauce, high fructose corn syrup,
WingsFood Indonesian Mi Sedaap + Persian Lime
I was looking forward to this dish as I grow Persian Limes and appreciate their stiff flavor and taste. I took one big taste of the noodles and wound up tossing them in the garbage. This noodle dish had an awful metallic taste and an aftertaste of synthetic limey something. While I did not appreciate its flavor, the noodles were okay, very typically of ramen noodles.
- The whole package serves 1.
- Per serving: 480c, 81k, 10.9p, 5f and 1373mg sodium (the print is so small I had a hard time reading the nutrition, so check me on this).
- Total time was ~5 minutes.
- Contains a puck of noodles and four packets.
- Heat: Mild.
- $0.99
This package does feature enrichment, with iron calcium and a variety of vitamins in the A + Bs range. So it might be, it is a pack that speaks to its countries taste and nutritional needs.
Series Ending
Well, this is the end of this particular series on Global Noodles + Soups. While I may still write about these foods again in the future, do not expect anything soon as I need a break.
But before I go, here is where I bought these pacakages:
- Noodlelight great place to buy imported noodles + soup but their info on each packet is not enough to make a good determination as to what to buy. A consumer cannot see the ingredient list or nutritional labels for instance.
- Amazon: Good source if you are not located near a store that carry these types of packages, especially Koyo and Lotus.
- Local national chain + natural local grocery stores.
—Patty
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Articles in this series.
Global Noodles + Soup 1 Intro on the series + reviews
Global Noodles + Soup 2 History + packages commonalities + reviews
Packaged Instant Noodles 3 Info on noodles + Koyo reviews
Instant Noodles + Soups Healthy 4 Info on health + reviews
Instant Noodles + Soups Feed the World 5 Emergency food + Lotus reviews
Focusing on Instant Phở 6 Discussing this soup + reviews
Making Phở at Home December 13, 2019
Noodles + Soup Etiquette 7 How to eat noodle soup + reviews
Instant Noodle + Soup Makers 8 Info on the manufacturers + reviews
Vita Ramen Noodles + Soup 9 Review on Vita Ramen packages