Meet the Kanten New’dle, a Healthy Alternative
One of our goals in creating the OhSo Tasty line of soups was to provide a healthy alternative to typical instant noodle soups. We wanted something vegan, good for your body, low calorie, low fat, and sustainable.
Enter the kanten new’dle, a new type of noodle. Unlike noodles usually found in instant soups, which are often made of wheat or rice, the kanten new’dle is made from Gelidiales — a type of red seaweed.
Kanten is used similarly to agar-agar, which also comes from seaweed. Both are used to create naturally occurring, vegetable-based gelatin. In Japan, kanten is often used in confectionery creations, but its fibrous nature makes it ideal for making a healthy noodle. Interestingly, kanten has been used in Japanese cooking for more than 350 years! So while it’s relatively new to the western palate, products made from Kanten are very common in Japan.
In its raw form, kanten is colorless, tasteless, and has no odor. Kanten absorbs the flavors and smells of whatever dish it’s prepared with because it’s neutral. In addition, unlike animal-based gelatin, it sets more firmly and can maintain its shape at room temperature, making them an ideal ingredient for storage in instant noodle soups. As such, kanten new’dles are similar in appearance to typical glass or cellophane noodles, made from mung beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or tapioca starch.
But best of all, kanten expands in the stomach when eaten, giving you a better sense of fullness than other types of noodles. That makes it ideal for people who are eating low-calorie diets. It’s also why all our OhSo Tasty soups are under 75 calories! A typical portion size of kanten new’dles will fill you up without adding extra calories. What’s more, they’re high in fiber and feed good bacteria in your gut, helping you maintain a healthy digestive tract.
Besides being low-calorie, kanten new’dles are also 100% vegan! We don’t add any animal products to the new’dles themselves, and only our Kickin’ Katsu Curry Soup has a bit of fish flavoring in it. But, of course, the rest of our line of instant soups are entirely vegan!
As you can see, the kanten new’dle has a lot going for it. It’s far healthier than regular noodles found in instant soups, which often have an extensive list of preservatives and other unhealthy things in them. For the OhSo Tasty Soups, though, they make a light, delicious, and filling snack or meal that will keep you going for a long time!
Image Credit: Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons