Comparative analysis of techno-functional properties,starch digestion and protein quality of pigmented chickpea flours

The aims of this investigation were to evaluate physicochemical, functional, pasting, and thermal properties, as well as the starch and protein digestibilities of whole flours obtained from ten chickpea cultivars differing in seed coat colour (black, brown, green, red and cream). The coloured chickpeas flours contained higher amounts of bioactive compounds as total phenolics (TPC, 241.25–444.41 μg gallic acid equivalents per g), β-glucans (1.02–2.42 g/100 g), resistant starch (22.68–37.52% of total starch) and higher protein digestibility corrected amino acid scores (PDCAAS, 0.61–0.82) compared with the cream-coloured chickpea Blanco Sinaloa (C.BS). The principal component analysis showed several differences among the chemical compositions, starch digestions and seed protein qualities; in the same sense we found a correlation between TPC and starch content with their thermal properties and starch digestion. Subsequently, pigmented chickpea cultivars have potential as functional ingredients for food product development.