Why Kansui: The Alkaline Authenticity Decision

Noodles that taste, look, and chew like actual ramen. The texture your brain expects when you think "ramen noodles." Firm strands that maintain their bite even when sitting in hot broth, with that distinctive ramen flavor and color that comes from real chemistry, not artificial shortcuts.

Kansui is potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate mixed with water.Sounds weird. Looks weird. Most people have never heard of it.

We use it anyway.

Because there is no other way to get authentic ramen bite and chew. None. You can't fake it with baking soda, you can't approximate it with other alkaline salts, you can't shortcut it with food coloring to make it look like you did the work.

The alkaline environment (pH around 9-10) changes how wheat proteins behave. Instead of the soft, extensible gluten network you get in bread, you get firm, springy noodle texture that holds up in hot broth.

Three things kansui does that water can't:

Protein Structure Modification: The alkaline pH changes how gluten proteins interact, creating the firm, springy texture that defines ramen noodles instead of the soft texture of regular pasta.

Color Development: Kansui reacts with flavonoids in wheat flour to create that distinctive yellow color. Real chemistry happening in real time, not artificial coloring pretending to be authentic.

Texture Preservation: Alkaline noodles maintain their bite even when sitting in hot broth. Regular pasta turns to mush. Ramen noodles with kansui keep their structure.

We could have skipped kansui. Made "high-protein noodles with seasoning" instead of actual ramen. Easier manufacturing, simpler ingredient list, fewer questions from customers.

But then it wouldn't be ramen. It would be soup with protein noodles that happen to have Asian flavoring.

Most brands skip kansui because it's complicated and hard to explain. We use kansui because ramen is supposed to be ramen.