Cellophane noodles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cellophane noodles (also known as bean threads, bean thread noodles, or glass noodles), are a type of clear Asian noodle made from mung bean starch, water, and sometimes also other ingredients including potato starch.
They are generally sold in dried form, boiled to reconstitute, then used in soups, stir fried dishes, or spring rolls. They are called "cellophane noodles" because of their resemblance to cellophane, a transparent material.
Cellophane noodles should not be confused with rice vermicelli, which are made from rice and are white in color rather than clear.
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[edit] Naming
In Chinese, they are called lǜ dòu miàn (綠豆麵, "mung bean noodles"; literally "green bean noodles"), fěn sī (粉絲, fěn meaning "soft white noodle" and sī meaning "thread"), or dōng fěn (冬粉, literally "winter white noodle"). They are also marketed under the name saifun, the Cantonese pronunciation of the Mandarin xì fěn (細粉; literally "slender noodle"), though the name fun see (粉絲) is the term most often used in Cantonese.
[edit] Production
In China, the primary site of production of cellophane noodles is in the city of Longkou, in the northeastern province of Shandong, and thus the noodles are also marketed as Longkou fensi (simplified: 龙口粉丝; traditional: 龍口粉絲).
[edit] In nations outside China
In Korean cuisine, such noodles are called dang myeon (hangul: 당면; hanja: 唐麵; also spelled dang myun dangmyun, tang myun, or tangmyun). They are most often made from sweet potato starch, and are the main ingredient in a popular dish called japchae.
In Japanese cuisine, they are called harusame (春雨), lit. "spring rain."
In Vietnamese they are called bun tau or bun tao.
[edit] Health concerns
In 2004, it was determined that some Chinese brands of cellophane noodles were contaminated with lead. Several unscrupulous companies, it turned out, were making their noodles from cornstarch instead of mung beans in order to save costs, and, to make the corn starch transparent, were adding lead-based whiteners to their noodles.[1]
