shiratake noodles
 

I tried shiratake noodles last night for the time. They reminded me of rice noodles. I put them in my Sea weed soup w/ tofu and it was really good.

Has anyone heard of them before? They have 0 cal and 3 grams of carbs (3 grams of fiber)

http://www.konjacfoods.com/order/

Just curious of anyone thinks this is too good to be true?

I LOVE them.. not by themselves of course. By I use it as a sub for pasta or cut it up and add into soups. Its a great filler for only 40 calories a bag!

Thanks, tater. I'm confused. The bag that I had last night said 0 cal and 3 grams of carbs. Do you think the bag was mismarked?

I've had them, and they are really hard for me to get past the snap of the noodle. They are hard to chew. I just can't stomach it.

The noodles I had were soft they literally tasted like rice noodles. My friend boiled them for 5 min.

the initial smell, omg, that almost threw me off them. But, I rinsed them for a while and the smell was gone. I liked them, I didn't LOVE them, but it was all good. To me its like, I LOVE cheese, but I like low fat cheese okay too so I'll eat the better for me choice...so with noodles, just the fact that they are better for me I'll use them instead of the better tasting but worse for me choice. Does that make ANY sense? I like my shirataki noodles with a veggie stirfry in stead of rice. Although, they really don't stick with you for too long, when I eat them I'm usually hungry again in an hour...

I was thinking of House Foods shiratake noodles, the ones that Hungry Girl always raves about.

I have only tried the house food ones so far.... they are good, not great but good. I make the alfredo like she does but then add a bunch of veggies, shrimp and hot sauce... very very good!

They are 40 cals and will everything else they fill me up pretty good!

There are a couple of kinds of those, I gather. The Hungry-girl version is TOFU Sherataki noodles, they have 40 calories per package. I eat those regularly, and are great for giving me a pseudo-pasta fix. I've also read about "Sherataki" noodles that have zero calories, but I've never seen those in the store. Not sure exactly what they are made of.

I love them. There are a couple different types - some have tofu (more calories), some have seaweed, etc. Either way, the calories are negligible, IMO. My favorite way to eat them is with an Asian Peanut dressing and lots of chopped veggies (cukes, peppers, etc.). I got the peanut sauce recipe from Nelie here on 3FC!

Here's some info I found...

About Konjac glucomannan (KGM)
Konjac glucomannan (KGM) is a water-soluble dietary fiber that is similar to pectin in structure and function.
KGM is a high molecular polysaccharide, is formed when the residues of glucose and mannose are bound together by β-1, 4-linkages, the molar ratio of glucose and mannose is 1:1,6. Acetyl groups are located on every 9-19th sugar unit. These acetyl groups contribute to the solubility and gelling properties. If the acetyl groups are removed under mild alkaline conditions, the molecule will produce heat stable gels.
The molecular weight of KGM from 200,000 to 2,000,000 varied by konjac species or variety, processing method and even storage time of the raw material.



KGM service food industry as following function
Soluble Dietary fiber source

Gelling agent
Thickener
Stabilizer
Film former
Emulsifier

Konjac Glucomannan(KGM) unique functions:

1. Forms an extremely viscous solution
2. Has great water-binding capabilities
3. Can form a reversible or a thermo-non-reversible gel

General function

* Highly soluble in cold and hot water and forms a viscous sol in 20-30 minutes.
* Gels with mild alkali
* Heat stable gelation
* Interaction with starch
* Synergism with kappa carrageenan, xanthan gum and LBG
* Stable at low pH

Konjac powder has the highest molecular weight and strongest viscosity among any dietary fiber known to science. (Molecular weight between 200,000-2,000,000 Daltons)

It is capable of absorbing up to 50 times its weight in water and creates a highly viscous gel from 20,000 to 40,000 cp.

Wow. I don't know what that all means...but maybe that explains the smell...lmao!

My friend who ordered it and said she did research said that it's some type of root that is made into powder and then made into noodles. She also says that if you don't wash them for like 5 to 10 minutes they taste awful and there's a smell. I would try it again after they are washed well and she says that you have to boil them for at least 5 minutes.

I think I may buy some. They're not the best thing, but for 0 cal and only 3 grams of carb which is all fiber, I think I can manage. they take on whatever flavor you put them in. They are just really expensive.

ya, I rinsed mine forever it seemed before they seemed edible. boiled them for about 7 minutes, or however long it took me to flash stir fry the veggies (not long). They weren't terrible, I wouldn't turn them down thats for sure.

I kinda wonder if it's too good to be true. When I eat regular pasta it makes me gassy. Well, when I ate the noodles last night I was really gassy, but then today I was really regular so I think it was just the fiber. Overall, I think it could be worth it, but how can you have good with 0 cal and the very beginning. Seems a lil fishy to me....

I thought the same thing about mushrooms, good and low cal...no way...but now they are a diet staple for me. AND OMG, I'm glad someone else got super gassy after eating the noodles too (well not GLAD, but relieved that I'm not a freak).

This is the first time I've read the thread and I am intrigued. Where do you get these noodles? Ever since I've become aware how high pasta/bread is in calories I've been avoiding, but I sure could use something similar from time to time!

do you have an asian food grocer in your town or city? thats where I found mine. there are several different brands.

I think it's a little wierd that they don't actually list the calorie count in the nutrition info. Then elsewhere on the page they state "almost no calories"...I'd venture a guess they actually do have calories.

That being said - I'm a fan of the House brand shirataki noodles. I like them when DH is having pasta...I get the volume without the high calorie count. :D

Yep, a little Korean store is one of the places I do a lot of my shopping. I'll go looking next time I'm there. Thanks!

if its 3 g of carbs doesnt that make them 12 calories??? sint it 4 calories per gram of carb??... either ay next to nothing .. you porbably burn more then tht just chewing them.. lol

Amy - 12 cals is prolly about right...I just find it annoying that they don't just say that. While it's true the actual calories are probably so low as to not make much of a difference...but ya don't gotta lie. :p

So do you think it's 12 cal then? That's makes me sad that they lied. My friend got them off the website I listed at the beginning, but I'm going to look at the Asian grocery to see. They got to be cheaper than online....

there are 2 types!

House Foods Tofu Shirataki Noodles - With just 20 calories & 1/2 gram of fat (plus 2g fiber!) per serving

House foods also provide KONNYAKU(yam) SHIRATAKI Noodles, which are 5kcals per serving

Oh - I wasn't aware of the second one. I'll try em if I see them.

But the original post was about a different brand (Konjac). And it might be a small lie the difference between 5 calories and zero calories....but it's still a lie. And I think leaving it off of the nutritional information is cheesy.

I'm so confused. lol How do you find out the real amount of calories?

Carbs have 4 calories per gram, but I believe it is common practice in food labeling to deduct the fiber calories b/c they aren't actually digestible. So 3 g carbs = 12 calories, but as it is all fiber, 0 calories.

Sounds interesting. I will have to check it out the next time I go shopping.

Shiritaki noodles are made from a Japanese mountain yam (what we call yams here in the US aren't really true yams they are sweet potatoes.)

I would venture to guess there are some calories in them, but probably not much. My question would be, what are they calling a serving size? If you have more then a serving you are most certainly eating some calories.

All of the brands I've seen that are just made with the yam (no tofu) are 5 cals a serving. It's possible that the brand you had was 1. either subtracting the fiber or 2. has a smaller serving size.

I have heard that it was a type of yam from Japan, so thank you for confirming.

The one that I had was in a pouch and it was one serving, it was about a cup.