Vite ™ Ramen
Company
Vite ™ Ramen is a small (~7 person) California company that was started by funds from Kickstarter, and is now advertising on Facebook. This is a fully USA company, located in Vacaville, making instant Ramen Soup.
Currently their website features three ramen soups: Vegan White Miso, Garlic Pork Tonkotsu, and Roasted Soy Sauce Chicken. Since I am on the search for quality ramen noodles + soup I thought I would buy their 6-pack which gives two packs per type of their soups. That way my spouse and I could try each one and see what we think.
Expectations
I always worry with some of the smaller companies, that they will go out of business and, something I may really like, is then no longer available. However, it seems to me that they expect to be around to improve with each package, for they publish versions of their product! So the graphic above, documents some of the changes they made to the packages I bought.
Manufacturing
Their noodles are microwaved, not baked or fried. This process steams and dehydrates the noodles. Options for consumers is to buy the soups or just the noodles (called Naked Noods). Their process is compact, geared for the smaller volumes they produce versus the international companies who have a long line of machines to produce, cook, and package their products.
Compared to international ramen packaging, their packaging is rather plain (and recyclable). I am okay with that, I’d rather they put the money into improving their product than packaging.
WebSite
Their website provides an amazing amount of information on their manufacturing process and the various ingredients they use. They discuss how they make the noodles, what each ingredient is and why it was included, and their nutritional goals.
I am really impressed on the transparency, and actual teaching they are doing about nutrition. Check out their website to learn more about what you are eating.
Price
The price of one package, with 1 serving, is ~$5 USD, which is higher than any other instant ramen noodle + soup I have evaluated. But the reasons for the higher cost is that they are made in the USA, provide livable wages to its staff, and the package contains an unusual and highly nutritious noodle puck, a large amount of dried veggies, and large packet of broth powder.
Sporadically available, you can also choose to buy 12 noodle pucks for just under $30 USD. This $2.50/puck is a good cost for these nutritious noodles. Great if you are one of those folks who loves to make your own broth.
Nutrition
Each package contains a large puck of noodles, a packet of dried veggies and one of broth powder. All told, they claim to provide 25%+ DV of all essential vitamins and minerals, with excess of 25 grams of complete protein per packet. They also do not use any artificial preservatives, nor frying. This approach allows them to claim, “a nutritionally complete meal in one packet.” Again, please check their amazingly informative website for details on what they have decided to create their noodles and broth.
√ Vegan White Miso (v 1.2)
This soup had a whitish broth, that had a very mild flavor of white miso so while it had a flavor it was very mild. I found the noodles not really as slurpy as ramen noodles generally are, they were a bit more like homemade Italian noodles to my mouth, textured, but not really chewy which is what I expect with ramen noodles. However, for the amount of nutrition actually being consumed, it was a good basic noodle soup.
- Allergens: wheat, soy, coconut
- Calories: 500
- Carbs: 74g
- Protein: 27g
- Fiber: 9g
- Sodium: 575mg
- Sugar: 3g but with no added sugar
- Fat: 11g (saturated 5g, poloyunsat .2g, monounsat .4g)
- Noodles: enriched wheat flour, quinoa flour, soluble corn fiber, etc.
- Veggies: cabbage, carrot, green + white onion, green + red bell pepper, and leeks.
Cooking: Boil 2C water, add noodles and cook for ~3 minutes, take off the heat and add the packets of veggies and broth. Stir well and eat.
I would add some homemade veggie broth to up the flavor, mushroom for some umami, tofu cubes, and a bit of sea veggies (bits of kelp or seaweed). For my spouse I added a few chopped bok choy leaves and sliced shiitake mushrooms. The broth was okay but not very tasty. I am rating it high, not for its taste, but for its nutrition and lack of bad things that are usually in instant noodle soups..
√ Garlic Pork Tonkotsu (v 1.2)
This is a white miso-type broth made with powdered pork and chicken broth. I found it a light, tasty broth and enjoyed drinking it after all the noodles were gone. This was the second time I ate these noodles and still must say they are more textured and not as processed as the large manufacturers make them. As a result it is less slurpy to me, but still chewy and filling.
- Allergens: wheat, soy, coconut
- Calories: 500
- Carbs: 70g
- Protein: 29g
- Fiber: 9g
- Sodium: 575mg
- Sugar: 2g but with no added sugar
- Fat: 12g (saturated 4.8g, poloyunsat .7g, monounsat 1g)
- Noodles: enriched wheat flour, quinoa flour, soluble corn fiber, etc.
- Veggies: cabbage, carrot, green + white onion, green + red bell pepper, and leeks.
Cooking: Boil 2C water, add noodles and cook for ~3 minutes, take off the heat and add the packets of veggies and broth. Stir well and eat.
I would be tempted to add some pork belly and scallions for added textures. Out of all three soups, this broth tasted the best; although it needs more umami. I did not really taste garlic or pork for that matter but it was the best broth
√ Roasted Soy Sauce Chicken (v 1.2)
Again, a whitish miso-type broth with powdered chicken broth. I did not find it tasted much like chicken, but it still was a good flavored broth. The noodles were hearty and filling. Compared to the cheaper global packages, this soup has a large amount of noodles that are as filling as they are nutritious.
- Allergens: wheat, soy, coconut
- Calories: 500
- Carbs: 69g
- Protein: 31g
- Fiber: 8g
- Sodium: 575mg
- Sugar: 2g but with no added sugar
- Fat: 12g (saturated 5g, poloyunsat 1g, monounsat 1.3g)
- Noodles: enriched wheat flour, quinoa flour, soluble corn fiber, etc.
- Veggies: cabbage, carrot, green + white onion, green + red bell pepper, and leeks.
Cooking: Boil 2C water, add noodles and cook for ~3 minutes, take off the heat and add the packets of veggies and broth. Stir well and eat.
If I added a cup of homemade chicken broth I could feed two people a filling lunch. it would also be nice to add some chicken, either breast meat, or ground chicken. The broth did not taste like chicken to me, it was mild, and okay. Something to build on I would say. Again, I am rating this positively for its nutrition and lack of harmful ingredients.
My Story
As you may be able to tell, I really enjoy soup. Always have actually. For these three soups I liked the broth taste of the Garlic Pork Tonkotsu the best. The noodles were consistent among the three soups and were filling each time, but not what I expected.
My note to the vendor would be to keep working on product. The broth needs a better taste foundation (umami) so that it is drinkable by itself. The noodles need to be smoother, more chewy, and slurpy. But kudos for focusing on making the instant noodle nutritious, and being so transparent in your product.
I will occasionally add a post on Global Instant Noodles + Soup, as I find new companies trying to produce healthy versions of this worldwide phenomenon. I thought this local California company deserved a view given how carefully they are about creating a healthy alternative to global ramen packages.
Give them a try and see if you agree with me about their products. Let me know if you have a different viewpoint.
—Patty
—**—
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
