Noodlehead

January 8, 2009 8:46 AM

Anyone have experience with products made from Konjac flour?

I stumbled across this website selling noodles made from Konjac flour. Zero calorie noodles? Could these possibly be tasty? Please say "yes".

posted by Evangeline to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

These are shirataki noodles (you can find them in the produce section at Gristides.)

Gross texture in the package but not bad at all heated with sauce.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:58 AM on January 8, 2009

I eat konnyaku or shirataki noodles all the time, as well as konnyaku itself. It's not a staple or replacement for rice or potatoes, but the noodles are usually eaten as part of a nabe hotpot, while cubes of konnyaku are eaten in oden stew. I find konnyaku pretty tasty, and you could eat it with miso.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:57 AM on January 8, 2009

The texture is like a really dense jello or a soft rubber. Personally, I can't get past the texture. They have a pretty neutral taste...that is, they're pretty bland. Most of the taste will come from the soup they're cooked in. There's also supposed to have tons of health benefits, and Chinese people eat konjac in desserts similar to jello. If you think you'd like rubbery noodles, you might like them.
posted by edjusted at 11:36 AM on January 8, 2009

Response by poster: This is not sounding all that promising...
posted by Evangeline at 1:50 PM on January 8, 2009

They're pretty good, really. If you want a little history of the fad, look at this NYT story.
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:27 PM on January 8, 2009

They're all right in Asian-inspired soups, but they're kind of squiddy. Don't expect them to feel anything like grain-based noodles. I tried cooking with them for a while, but eventually got tired of them.
posted by tangerine at 4:55 PM on January 8, 2009

I absolutely loved the taste of shirataki noodles. I took them out of the packet and blanched them for a couple minutes in boiling water and then used them in a stirfry. Really yum. Unfortunately they gave me the most terrible stomach upset I can remember. Horrible, horrible, horrible. I spent the whole of that evening and most of the night in the bathroom. My boyfriend had no problems whatsoever with them however. If you have a bad reaction to maltitol in sugar free chocolates, I'd advise you to stay away from shirataki noodles as well, as this is another area where my boyfriend and I have different tolerances.
If you don't have any adverse reactions to the stuff, try to use them in Asian type things, not as pasta.
posted by peacheater at 9:03 PM on January 8, 2009

Response by poster: peacheater, thank you! You might have saved me a lot of grief. I have a sugar alcohol intolerance too.

But I'm surprised - unless maltitol is added to the noodles, I'm not sure what ingredient is causing the problem. The ingredients list I've read don't contain any maltitol or sorbitol.
posted by Evangeline at 4:23 AM on January 9, 2009