Effect of cooking on the composition of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)

The effect of cooking on levels of nutrients and anti-nutritional factors in beans and chickpeas was investigated. Significant (p < 0.05) variation existed among the beans and chickpeas with respect to their crude protein, starch, soluble dietary fiber (SDF), insoluble dietary fiber (IDF), total dietary fiber (TDF), resistant starch (RS), trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), mineral, phytic acid, tannin, sucrose and oligosaccharide (raffinose, stachyose and verbascose) contents. Cooking beans and chickpeas in water significantly increased protein, starch, SDF, IDF, TDF, Mn and P contents (on a dry weight basis), whereas reduced ash, K, Mg, TIA, tannin, sucrose and oligosaccharide contents were observed. Colored beans (black, cranberry, dark red kidney, pinto and small red bean) contained tannins, whereas little tannin in white-colored beans (great northern and white pea bean) and chickpeas (Desi and Kabuli type) was detected.     

Effect of domestic processes and water hardness on soluble sugars content of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)

An HPLC method for sugar analysis on legumes has been applied to three different Spanish cultivars of chickpeas, to evaluate changes on the soluble sugar fraction (with special attention to α-galactosides) during domestic processing (soaking and cooking) using two types of water with different hardness. Processing liquids were also analysed. Ciceritol, was the main sugar in all the samples. Raffinose and stachyose concentrations were from 1.312 to 1.947 g/100 g in raw samples. Soaking liquids extracted less than 4.86% of the α-galactosides of raw seeds with no considerable amounts of flatogenic sugars. Decreases of raffinose + stachyose after processing were between 24.7 and 42.6%. Cooking liquid contents of α-galactosides ranged from 0.282 to 0.565 g/100 ml, (0.119–0.302 g/100 ml of flatogenic sugars). Statistical tests (ANOVA) showed that water hardness has no significant effect (p⩽0.05) on flatogenic sugar contents of final processed chickpeas.     

Effects of gamma irradiation on physical and chemical properties of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum)

Changes in the physical and chemical properties of chickpeas gamma irradiated with ⁶⁰Co at doses of 0–50 kGy were investigated. Irradiation between 0 and 20 kGy had no significant effect on the hydration capacity of the chickpeas; however, increasing the dose from 20 to 50 kGy significantly decreased the hydration capacity owing to leaching of soluble compounds from the cotyledon to the water. There was an improvement in cooking quality (defined as degree of softness) with increased irradiation. Gelatinisation properties of the starch (measured with a Rapid Visco‐Analyser) exhibited a deterioration with increasing irradiation dose, while reversed phase HPLC identified a sequential decrease in low‐molecular‐weight protein composition with increasing irradiation dose. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Extrusion and iron bioavailability in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The effect of extrusion cooking (14% moisture and 130°C processing temperature) and of home-cooking on chickpea iron bioavailability was studied by the hemoglobin regeneration method in anemic rats. The iron pool was calculated from hemoglobin concentration and animal weight, and iron bioavailability from the relationship between iron pool gain (Δ pool) and mg of ingested iron. Iron bioavailability relative to ferrous sulfate was calculated by the following equation: Y=63.989 e^−0.0458X [Y= % absorbed; X=ingested Fe (mg)] on the basis of the results of control groups. The results showed that there was no significant difference between groups (extruded and cooked) in terms of mean percentage of iron bioavailability relative to Fe₂SO₄. We conclude that chickpea is a good source of iron and extrusion cooking is a process comparable to home-cooking in terms of iron bioavailability.     

Biochemistry and technology of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds

Chickpea is an important source of proteins, carbohydrates, B-group vitamins, and certain minerals, particularly to the populations of developing nations. India contributes over 75% of the chickpea production in the world where it is mostly consumed as dhal, whole seeds, and several types of traditional, fermented, deep fried, sweetened, and puffed products. In this review, the world production and distribution, genetic background, biochemical and nutritional quality, and developments in storage and processing technology of chickpea are discussed. Future research needs, to improve the utilization of chickpea as human food, are addressed.     

Chemical composition,functional properties and microstructural characteristics of three kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as affected by different cooking methods

Chickpea is an important food legume and is a major ingredient in many human diets. Chemical composition, physical parameters, functional properties and microstructural characteristics of three kabuli chickpea cultivars and the effects of three cooking methods were investigated. Carbohydrate and protein were two major components in all seeds. Cooking increased fibre, total carbohydrate and total and resistant starch contents, but decreased ash content. Protein and oil levels of the cooked samples either decreased or did not change significantly. Seed weight and density decreased with cooking. Hydration and swelling capacities as well as water absorption and holding capacities of cooked chickpeas were higher than raw samples, with the largest increases in the pressure‐cooked seeds. Seed weights were highly correlated with hydration (r = 0.89) and swelling (r = 0.76) rates. Emulsifying activity, emulsifying stability and foaming capacity of cooked chickpea flours decreased, while foaming stability increased. Chickpea flours had pronounced morphological changes after cooking.     

Inhibitor activities of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L) against bovine,pocine and human trypsin and chymotrypsin

Twenty-two chickpea samples (7 genotypes, 4 desi and 3 kabuli) representing three different sites of cultivation and three years of harvest were examined for their inhibitory activities against bovine, porcine and human trypsin/chymotrypsin, and compared for their isoinhibitor patterns. No significant difference in inhibitor activity between the desi and kabuli seed types was found for any of the enzymes used, when data from different locations and years were averaged. However, some significant differences were observed between individual cultivars when compared at the same location and in the same year. Inhibitor activities against the three trypsins and three chymotrypsins were statistically different with activities against bovine (5.46 ± 1.21) > porcine (5.24 ± 1.18) > human (4.45 ± 0.93) trypsin and those against bovine (4.89 ± 1.27) < porcine (8.91 ± 2.14) < human (10.54 ± 2.50) chymotrypsin (means ± standard deviation, expressed as mg active enzyme completely inhibited per g seed meal). Levels of activity of both trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor were influenced by the location and year of cultivation. Isoelectric focusing yielded identical inhibitor patterns for all samples, indicating seven isoinhibitors acting against trypsin and chymotrypsin. Results are discussed in relation to nutritional significance of these inhibitors and perspectives for breeding genotypes low in protcase inhibitors.     

Protein quality of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) protein hydrolysates

Chickpea protein isolate (CPI) was used as the starting material in the production of chickpea protein hydrolysates (CPHs). To obtain a highly extensive hydrolysate with a degree of hydrolysis higher than 50%, a sequential utilisation of endoprotease (Alcalase) and exoprotease (Flavourzyme) was necessary. Molecular weight patterns of CPHs were determined by gel filtration chromatography. As a result of the enzymatic activity, differences in the chromatographic pattern of CPHs were observed. Although significant (P⩽0.05) decreases of Phe and Arg were observed after hydrolysis, adequate amounts of essential amino acids in relation to the reference pattern of FAO (FAO/WHO/ONU, 1985. Energy and requirements. Technical report series No. 724. Geneva) were found. In vitro protein digestibility of CPHs (95%) were similar to that of the starting material (CPI), and TIA was not detected in any case. A high increase of solubility in CPHs, with respect to CPI, was observed, one CPH being totally soluble over a wide pH range (2–10) when the enzymes were added sequentially. Due to their high protein quality and solubility, CPHs might be considered as potential ingredients in the food industry.     

In vitro fermentability and antioxidant capacity of the indigestible fraction of cooked black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), lentils (Lens culinaris L.) and chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)

BACKGROUND: Pulses represent an important source of protein, as well as digestible and indigestible carbohydrates. Little information is available on the indigestible carbohydrates and antioxidant capacity of legume seeds. The cooked seeds of three pulses (black bean, chickpea and lentil) were evaluated for their indigestible fraction (IF), polyphenols content, antioxidant capacity and in vitro fermentability, including short‐chain fatty acid production. RESULTS: The insoluble indigestible fraction (IIF) was higher than the soluble counterpart (soluble indigestible fraction, SIF). The SIF value was highest in black beans, while no difference was observed between chickpeas and lentils. Black beans and lentils had higher polyphenols content than chickpeas. The IF of black beans exhibited the lowest and chickpeas the highest associated polyphenols content. Condensed tannins were retained to some extent in the IF that exhibited significant antioxidant capacity. The total IF of the three pulses produced short chain fatty acids (SCFA) after 24 h of in vitro fermentation by human colonic microflora. IF from black bean and lentil were best substrates for the fermentative production of butyric acid. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that the IF of pulses might be an important source of bioactive compounds. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Functional Properties of Drum-Dried Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Flours

The chemical and functional properties of three precooked flours pre-pared from citric acid- and sodium bicarbonate-treated chickpeas were compared with those of raw chickpea and soybean flours. The nitrogen solubility and foaming capacity of the precooked flours were markedly reduced by processing. The acid-treated flours showed higher values of oil absorption and viscosity than the sodium bicarbonate-treated flour, but the latter had a higher bulk density. Even at 10% concentration, the acid-treated flour slurries manifested very low viscosities (about 11 centipoises). No significant difference was detected in the water absorption and gelation capacity of the precooked flours.     

Milling and physicochemical properties of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties

BACKGROUND: Physical characteristics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds such as grain size, weight and hull content are important from a milling and marketing point of view. Chemical characteristics provide the information on nutritional status of grains. Chickpea of Desi (cv. A1) and Kabuli (cv. L550) cultivars were analyzed for their physicochemical, milling and milled flour quality characteristics. RESULTS: Between dry and wet milling, higher yield of dhal was obtained from wet milling, which was found to be true in both cultivars. An extra yield of 2–4% was obtained in wet milling. Between the cultivars, Desi was found to be the higher dhal‐yielding cultivar in both dry and wet milling methods. Fat, ash and protein contents were found to be higher in Kabuli than in Desi and the values were respectively 5.3%, 3.5% and 24.9% for Kabuli and 4.3%, 2.2% and 22.6% for Desi. CONCLUSION: The chickpea cultivars Desi and Kabuli vary significantly in their physical properties such as seed color, size, 100‐seed weight and 100‐seed volume. Between the dry and wet milling, a higher yield (2–4%) of dhal was obtained from wet milling. Between the cultivars, electronic nose analysis of chickpea flour indicated the possibility of differentiating the variations associated with varietal difference and milling. The gel electrophoresis pattern of chickpea showed as many as 15 protein bands in flours from both the cultivars, either in phosphate or SDS buffer. The Rapid Visco Analyzer profile did not show a significant difference between the two cultivars. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Variation among physical,chemical and technological properties in three Sicilian cultivars of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Three Sicilian chickpea cultivars (‘Calia’, ‘Etna’ and ‘Principe’) were evaluated for physical, chemical and technological properties. Whereas no substantial differences were ascertained on seeds chemical composition, the cultivars greatly differed in terms of seed size, specific surface area (SSA) and seed coat incidence. These last two properties affected the technological properties of the seeds. In particular, a high SSA (‘Calia’) contributed to a faster softening, whilst a great coat thickness (‘Etna’) delayed both hydration and softening rate. The time required to obtain an acceptable firmness (cooking time) was greatly reduced by presoaking the seeds in salt solution (0.5% NaCl or NHCO₃). ‘Calia’ required the lowest cooking time when soaked in distilled water or in 0.5% NaCl. Presoaking seed in NaHCO₃ allowed halving the cooking time in all cultivars.     

Genotype and growing environment influence chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seed composition

BACKGROUND: As a first step towards genetic improvement of seed quality in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), seven desi and nine kabuli varieties were grown at multiple sites to assess the affect of environment on seed yield, weight and selected seed constituents. The sites were chosen to represent a range of environments in chickpea production areas of the Canadian prairies. RESULTS: Genotype × environment interaction effects on starch, amylose and protein (desi only) concentrations and seed yield were significant, suggesting that the varieties did not perform consistently relative to each other in the different environments. Starch concentration was negatively correlated (r_kabuli = ?0.25, P < 0.05; r_desi = ?0.16, P < 0.05) with protein concentration in both chickpea market classes. However, repeatability estimates of starch, amylose and protein concentrations were low and inconsistent across chickpea market classes, possibly owing to complex biosynthetic pathways for these constituents. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that testing for seed constituent traits over a range of environments will be required to improve seed quality in individual chickpea varieties. The best selection strategies for seed constituent improvement in chickpea will be influenced by genotype and genotype × environment interaction for these traits. The negative relationship between seed constituents and yield indicates that selection for chickpea cultivars with desired seed composition may require compromise and indirect selection. Copyright © 2009 Crown in the right of Canada. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hypocholesterolaemic and antioxidant activities of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) protein hydrolysates

BACKGROUND: Some dietary proteins possess biological properties which make them potential ingredients of functional or health‐promoting foods. Many of these properties are attributed to bioactive peptides that can be released by controlled hydrolysis using exogenous proteases. The aim of this work was to test the improvement of hypocholesterolaemic and antioxidant activities of chickpea protein isolate by means of hydrolysis with alcalase and flavourzyme. RESULTS: All hydrolysates tested exhibited better hypocholesterolaemic activity when compared with chickpea protein isolate. The highest cholesterol micellar solubility inhibition (50%) was found after 60 min of treatment with alcalase followed by 30 min of hydrolysis with flavourzyme. To test antioxidant activity of chickpea proteins three methods were used: β‐carotene bleaching method, reducing power and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical‐scavenging effect since antioxidant activity of protein hydrolysates may not be attributed to a single mechanism. Chickpea hydrolysates showed better antioxidant activity in all assays, especially reducing power and DPPH scavenging effect than chickpea protein isolate. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed the good potential of chickpea protein hydrolysates as bioactive ingredients. The highest bioactive properties could be obtained by selecting the type of proteases and the hydrolysis time. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Isolation and Characterization of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Seed Protein Fractions

Proteins of ground chickpea seeds were extracted with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution and precipitated with addition of acid (isoelectric precipitate (C-IP)) and by cryoprecipitation (cryoprecipitate (C-CP)). The protein isolates were characterized by Native PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS). Both the isoelectric precipitate and cryoprecipitate contained the globulin protein 11S legumins and 7S vicilins as the major protein fractions and 2S albumin proteins as a minor protein fraction. The major subunits of RP-HPLC protein fractions from both cryoprecipitate and isoelectric precipitate were found to contain subunits of both legumins and vicilins. SDS-PAGE identified legumin α-subunits with MW 40.6 and 39.5 kDa and legumin β- subunits with MW 23.5 and 22.5 kDa, and vicilin subunits with MW 70.2, 50.7, 35.0, 33.6, 18.9 and 15.5 kDa. ESI-MS molecular weights 35,366, 35,268 and 14,648 Da are likely vicilin subunits while the 24,894 Da is a legumin β-subunit.     

Impact of household food processing strategies on antinutrient (phytate,tannin and polyphenol) contents of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.): a review

Pulses, which include beans and chickpeas, are major constituents of the human diet. They are important sources of energy and nutrients, particularly protein, folate and minerals. However, they also contain antinutrients which bind minerals, mainly iron and zinc, rendering them less bioavailable or unavailable for absorption. The levels of these antinutrients may be reduced by food processing techniques such as soaking and germination. Researchers have used these techniques in a number of studies; however, there is no consensus regarding the optimum processing conditions for reduction in the levels of these antinutrients. Thus, this review was conducted to describe the results of studies on soaking and germination of chickpeas and beans. A systematic search was carried out utilising Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA) (1969 to present), Web of Science (1899 to present) and Scopus (1823 to present). A total of thirty‐three articles were reviewed. Both soaking and germination resulted in significant but variable degrees of reduction in levels of antinutrients in most studies.     

Intrinsic variability of mineral composition of chickpea (Cicer arietinum,L.)

The influence of genetic biotype on the mineral composition of chickpea was studied. Experimental design included 37 cultivars of both Desi and Kabuli biotypes cultivated under the same climatic and agronomic conditions in order to exclude the variability of the results due to environment and genotype × environment interaction effects. The biotype, as source of variance in mineral composition, was a significant factor in explaining differences between Ca, Mg and K contents. Cu, Fe, Mn, Na and Zn contents did not show differences between biotypes. According to data previously published, differences may be explained by differences in the coat thickness and composition between biotypes. Two homogeneous subgroups of chickpea cultivars were identified, one having relatively high calcium contents and the other having relatively high iron contents.