Household Food Processing Strategies to Improve Iron and Zinc Bioavailability in Ethiopian Dishes Based on Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and Dry Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Pulses are major constituents of the human diet. Dry bean and chickpea, commonly grown in Ethiopia, are among the pulses that serve as important sources of energy and nutrients, particularly protein, minerals and folate. However, pulses also contain anti-nutrients which bind minerals, mainly iron and zinc, rendering them less bioavailable or unavailable for absorption. These anti-nutrient contents of pulses are a particular problem in Ethiopia, where the population consumes a plant-based diet and a large percentage of young children and women are affected by micronutrient deficiencies. The nutrient and anti-nutrient contents of raw, cooked, soaked-cooked, germinated-cooked and fermented dry bean (Hawassa Dume, Nasir and Red Wolaita) and chickpea (Habru, Mastewal and Local) varieties grown in Ethiopia were determined with the hypothesis that the iron and zinc bioavailability can be enhanced through processing methods applicable at household scale. In addition, the effect of soaking and germination on cooking time and the acceptability of dishes prepared from dry bean and chickpea were determined. Ferritin formation in the Caco-2 cell intestinal absorption model was used as a proxy for iron bioavailability. Fermentation of dry bean and chickpea flours significantly reduced the contents of anti-nutrients (phytate, tannin and polyphenols), as well as the phytate:iron molar ratio compared to unfermented samples. For most dry bean and chickpea samples, germination-cooking yielded superior results in terms of reducing cooking time, phytate, tannin, and phytate:iron and phytate:zinc molar ratios compared to cooking and soaking-cooking. Polyphenol contents were lower for soaking-cooking than for germination-cooking. With a few exceptions, the scores for sensory attributes of bean-based and chickpea-based dishes prepared from soaked or germinated samples were not significantly different than those of dishes prepared from untreated bean and chickpea. Among the unprocessed dry bean and chickpea varieties, there was significantly higher ferritin formation (better iron bioavailability) in Caco-2 cells exposed to Habru compared to the other samples of dry bean and chickpea varieties used in the study. Overall, soaking (18 h)-cooking resulted in higher ferritin formation for the dry bean samples. On the other hand, soaked (12 h)-cooked and germinated (72 h)-cooked in Habru, soaked (12 and 18 h)-cooked and germinated (72 h)-cooked in Local and germinated (72 h)-cooked in Mastewal chickpea resulted in higher ferritin formation compared to samples cooked without pre-treatment. Fermentation for 72 h was effective in increasing ferritin formation in all dry bean samples, but not in chickpea samples, with the exception of Habru. Although the expected improvements due to the reduced anti-nutrient contents were not confirmed by high ferritin formation in Caco-2 cells or by lowering molar ratios below critical values in all samples, soaking-cooking, germination-cooking and fermentation will still be effective with regards to lowering the total anti-nutrient contents

Optimizing the preparation of cooked chickpea

The demand of processing pulses (dry beans, lentil, and peas) into various foods has increased over the recent years as they are considered a sustainable and healthy food. Thus, a sustainable processing of them is equally important for the future. A sustain-able processing should be both financial, time and energy efficient for manufactures, safe and nutritious for consumers and have a low environmental impact. Hence, an optimization of the preparation of pulses is needed and constitute the main goal of this study. In this study the optimal soaking conditions (time and temperature) and cooking time of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) was studied and analyzed by a Circumscribed Cen-tral Composite Design (CCC), allowing estimation of two-way interactions as well as quadratic terms. The intervals studied during soaking were 60-80 °C during 50-70 min and a cooking time of 50-90 min. Application challenges were also identified by observation of a large-scale test. The results indicated that the water content and the amount of solid loss increased with increasing temperature or time. During soaking the temperature had a greater effect on the amount of solid loss than the water content. During cooking the cooking time had an even greater effect on the water content and the solid loss than the other variables studied. In the two-way interactions obtained no synergetic effect existed, meaning that changing one variable is more efficient than changing both. When per-forming the response optimization, the solid loss was set to be minimized, the water content maximized, and no core was detected. The outcome of the response optimi-zation showed an optimal condition of 80 °C during 69 min during soaking with a following cooking time of 59 min. Furthermore, application challenges were ob-served. The main challenge identified was that the temperature was hard to regulate affecting time efficiency. Thus, the obtained optimal condition was not directly ap-plicable to a larger scale. Furthermore, the conclusion of this study indicate that the cooking time is the factor needed to be limited and is efficiently reduced by increasing the soaking temperature. This will improve the time efficiency, financial and nutritional value of the final prod-uct and reduce waste within the production.Efterfrågan på bearbetning av legymer (bönor, linser och ärtor) till olika produkter har ökat under de senaste åren. Detta eftersom de anses vara bra för miljön och hälsosamma för den som konsumerar dem. Således bör även bearbetningen av de, vara hållbar för framtiden. En hållbar bearbetning ska både vara ekonomiskt, tids- och energi effektiv för producenten, säker och näringsrik för konsumenten och ha en låg klimatpåverkan. Därav bör bearbetning av legymer optimeras, vilket ugör denna studies huvudsyfte. I denna studie studerades och analyserades de optimala blötläggningsförhållandena (tid och temperatur) och koktiden av kikärter genom en Circumscribed Central Composite Design (CCC) vilket möjliggör uppskattning av två-vägsinteraktioner såväl som kvadratiska termer. Intervallen som studerades var en blöltäggningstemperatur på 60-80 °C under 50-70 min och en koktid mellan 50-90 min Applikationsutmaningar identifierades även, genom observation av ett storskaligt testförsök. Resultaten indikerade att vatteninnehållet och förlusten av massa vid blötläggning ökade med ökad temperatur eller tid. Vid blötläggning hade temperaturen en större effekt än tiden på massaförlusten. Under kokningen hade koktiden en ännu större effekt än de andra vaiablarna som studerades. I två-vägs interaktionerna som hittades påvisades ingen synergetisk interaktion, vilket antyder att det är effektivare att ändra endast en variabel än att ändra båda.Vid utförandet av responsoptimeringen i Minitab, var förlusten av massa minimerad, vatteninnehållet maximerat och ingen hård kärna i mitten av kikärtan var tillåten. Detta ledde fram till en optimal behandling på 80 °C under 69 min under blötläggning med en efterföljande koktid på 59 min. De applikationsutmaningar som identidierades var att temperaturen var svår att reglera vilket i sin tur påverkar tidseffektiviteten. Således var den erhållna optimala behandlingen inte direkt överförbar i större skala. Slutsatsen av denna studie tyder på att koktiden är den variabel som behöver begränsas. Detta görs effektivast genom att öka blötläggningstemperaturen. På så vis förbättras tidseffektiviteten, höjs det finansiella och nutritionella värdet av slutprodukten och minskas svinnet inom produktionen

Legume Seed Nutraceutical Research

Legumes are a main source of nitrogen-rich edible seeds and constitute a major source of food for a significant part of the world's population. Particularly, they are the most relevant sources of plant proteins with nutraceutical and health benefit properties. This book was conceived to provide key research knowledge on health-promoting aspects of seed components, and their nutritional and nutraceutical values, for increasing awareness among the population of the research focus across the growing field of legume research, and the area of sustainable crop production

Nutritional, sensory and functional properties of a Bhambara groundnut complimentary food.

Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016.Abstract available in PDF file

Effect of Tempering Moisture and Infrared Heating Temperature on the Functional and Nutritional Properties of Desi Chickpea and Hull-less Barley Flours, and Their Blends

The overall goal of this research was to investigate the effect of tempering moisture and infrared heating surface temperature on the functional and nutritional properties of Desi chickpea and hull-less barley flours, and their blends. Specifically, chickpea (initial moisture content 6.29%) and barley (initial moisture content 6.65%) seeds were tempered to 20% moisture content or left un-tempered followed by infrared heating to reach a surface temperature of 115 or 135oC. The infrared heating process was conducted independently for three times under the same condition to obtain triplicate samples. The seeds were then milled into flour for the subsequent analysis of their physicochemical and functional properties, levels of anti-nutritional compounds and in vitro protein digestibility. In the first study, the impact of infrared heating surface temperature and tempering moisture on the functional properties of Desi chickpea, hull-less barley, and their blends were examined. Neither of the factors was found to significantly affect the proximate composition (i.e., protein, lipid, and ash) of the flours (p>0.05). The content of protein, lipid, and ash was ~25%, 6% and 3% in chickpea flour, and 11%, 2% and 2% in barley flour, respectively. However, the levels of gelatinized starch were found to significantly increase with the combined tempering-heat treatment in each flour (p0.05), which was around 1.1 and 1.3 g/g of chickpea and barley flour respectively, whereas the water hydration capacity was significantly increased from 1.1 and 1.4 to 1.8 and 2.8 g/g of flour in chickpeas and barley respectively (p0.05). Based on the aforementioned results, chickpea and barley flours tempered to 20% moisture and heated to 135oC were subsequently blended at chickpea: barley ratio of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40 and 80:20. The physicochemical and functional properties of the blends showed a gradient change in accordance with their blending ratios. In the second study, the impact of infrared heating surface temperature and tempering moisture on the levels of anti-nutritional factors (i.e., trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitors, total phenolics and condensed tannins), amino acid composition and in vitro protein digestibility properties of Desi chickpea, hull-less barley, and their blends were examined. Results indicated that both temperature and the tempering/temperature treatment caused a reduction in levels of all anti-nutritional factors for both flours, and the effect was more prominent in the tempering-heat combination (p<0.05). The amino acid composition of both flours was found not to be substantially changed with tempering or infrared heating. The amino acid scores (AAS) of chickpea and barley flours, as determined by the first limiting amino acid using the FAO/WHO reference pattern found in the case of barley to be limiting in lysine with an AAS of ~0.7, whereas for chickpea flour, threonine was limiting and had an AAS of ~0.9. The in vitro protein digestibility of chickpea samples was found to increase from 76% to 79% with the tempering-heat (135oC) combination, whereas barley flour increased from 72% to 79% when directly heated to 135oC (without tempering). In vitro protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (IV-PDCAAS) was found to increase from 0.65 to 0.71 for chickpea flour and 0.44 to 0.52 for barley flour, respectively with tempering-heat (135oC) combination indicating that tempering with infrared heating can improve the nutritional value of both flours. The addition of chickpea flour to the barley flour acted to improve the nutritional properties (IV-PDCAAS), to an extent depending on the concentration of chickpea flour present

Phytochemicals

Phytochemicals, consumed as part of the diet, improve human health by lowering its risk and preventing chronic diseases. Fruits, vegetables, chocolate, pulses, and teas, among others, are rich sources of phytochemicals; however, only a certain amount has been isolated and identified. Moreover, the wide diversity of these compounds requires optimized extraction methodologies for further characterization and evaluation of healthy properties. This Special Issue addresses interdisciplinary research related to phytochemicals, highlighting their dietary sources, innovative extraction methodologies, and their effects on human health. Seven papers have been selected for further contribution to phytochemical studies

Development of innovative and high nutritional value foods from native legume species

[SPA] Esta tesis doctoral se presenta bajo la modalidad de compendio de publicaciones. El objetivo general de esta investigación fue optimizar los principales procesos para desarrollar nuevos alimentos frescos y procesados a partir de variedades nativas de tres especies de leguminosas (habas, guisantes y caupí), bien adaptados a diferentes climas europeos y con alta calidad nutricional y alto contenido en compuestos bioactivos. De este modo, alimentos ricos en proteína de origen local podrían ser incorporados más fácilmente a la dieta, mejorando así la diversidad de las zonas productoras. Hoy en día existe una importante tendencia en los hábitos de consumo caracterizada por una demanda creciente de alimentos naturales, más sanos, listos para el consumo y seguros. Un ejemplo de esta tendencia es el desarrollo de frutas y hortalizas mínimamente procesadas. Dentro de estas últimas, las legumbres son una excelente fuente de muchos nutrientes esenciales, incluyendo proteínas y aminoácidos, minerales, fibra, vitaminas, carbohidratos de asimilación lenta y otros compuestos bioactivos, y son bajas en calorías y grasas. Sin embargo, la biodisponibilidad de algunos nutrientes puede verse reducida por diversos compuestos presentes en las legumbres, considerados como compuestos antinutricionales. No obstante, muchos de estos compuestos también han sido identificados como beneficiosos para la salud. Por lo tanto, se debe promover el consumo de legumbres buscando nuevas formas de presentación en las que el producto pueda consumirse fresco y además poder cocinarse en un envase adecuado. Las legumbres se consumen generalmente en forma de semillas frescas, como productos mínimamente procesados. Sin embargo, también se pueden utilizar diferentes métodos de cocción. Esta preparación de alimentos puede causar cambios en la textura, color, sabor o en el contenido de compuestos bioactivos. Uno de estos métodos es la cocción en microondas, en la que se puede cocinar un producto sano en poco tiempo sin perder mucha calidad. Uno de los pasos más críticos en el desarrollo de los productos mínimamente procesados es la desinfección. Aunque la utilización del hipoclorito sódico (NaOCl) está muy extendida en la industria debido a su actividad antimicrobiana y su bajo costo, su uso se encuentra en entredicho debido a la formación de subproductos tóxicos. Por lo tanto, es necesario el desarrollo de métodos alternativos de desinfección. Otros desinfectantes, como el clorito sódico acidificado (ASC), se han aplicado ampliamente para la prevención del pardeamiento enzimático y no enzimático y, en menor medida, para reducir el crecimiento microbiano a niveles que no afecten negativamente al sabor y el aroma de los productos vegetales. Además, la utilización de luz UV también puede ser una alternativa al NaOCl, ya que es efectiva para la descontaminación superficial, debido a que actúa como agente antimicrobiano tanto directamente, dañando el ADN microbiano, como indirectamente debido a la estimulación de los mecanismos de defensa de las hortalizas contra los patógenos, retardando la descomposición y retrasando la senescencia. Así mismo, las películas o recubrimientos antimicrobianos comestibles pueden evitar el pardeamiento y mejorar la calidad, la inocuidad, la vida útil y la funcionalidad de los productos alimenticios al reducir la transferencia de humedad, la frecuencia respiratoria y los procesos oxidativos, al tiempo que se reducen al mínimo tanto el deterioro como los microorganismos patógenos. El objetivo general de esta investigación fue optimizar los principales procesos para desarrollar nuevos alimentos frescos y procesados a partir de variedades nativas de tres especies de leguminosas (habas, guisantes y caupí), bien adaptados a diferentes climas europeos y con alta calidad nutricional y alto contenido en compuestos bioactivos. De este modo, alimentos ricos en proteína de origen local podrían ser incorporados más fácilmente a la dieta, mejorando asó la diversidad de las zonas productoras. En este trabajo se evaluaron los efectos de la desinfección con NaOCl (100 ppm) o alternativamente con clorito sódico acidificado (ASC) (300 ppm), y el envasado en atmósfera modificada pasiva (MAP) a 1 o 4ºC, sobre la calidad general de las semillas de guisantes inmaduras mínimamente procesadas. La desinfección con ASC resultó en una mejor calidad sensorial, un mayor contenido de vitamina C y un menor recuento en recuento de psicrófilos. Las semillas de guisantes inmaduras pueden almacenarse durante 14 días a 1-4ºC bajo MAP, con leve impacto en su calidad. Posteriormente, se estudió el efecto de diferentes desinfectantes (NaOCl (150 ppm), NaOCl + recubrimiento comestible a base de ésteres de ácidos grasos de sacarosa (EC), y UV-C (3 kJ m-2, 90s)) sobre los cambios de calidad de las semillas de haba mínimamente procesadas almacenadas durante 10 días a 4ºC. Periódicamente, las muestras se cocinaron en microondas (700 W, 1 min) para obtener un alimento listo para el consumo. El tratamiento con EC mostró un efecto positivo sobre la vitamina C, el contenido total de fenoles (TPC) y la retención del contenido de taninos, mientras que las muestras tratadas con UV mostraron los valores más altos de contenido en azúcares. Además, los tratamientos de EC y UV extendieron la vida útil de las semillas de haba mínimamente procesadas de 7 a 10 días a 4ºC con respecto al tratamiento con NaOCl. Como era de esperar, el microondas redujo la concentración en compuestos bioactivos, pero mantuvo la calidad de las semillas de haba, lo que permitió obtener un alimento sabroso listo para consumir. Otro de los objetivos de este trabajo fue evaluar la calidad de caupí mínimamente procesado listo para su consumo en crudo (semillas inmaduras) o cocinado en microondas (semillas y vainas). Las vainas de caupí frescas se lavaron con NaOCl (150 ppm) y se almacenaron durante 21 días a 8°C bajo atmósfera modificada (23 kPa CO2/1.5 kPa O2 and 19 kPa CO2/1.2 kPa O2), mientras que las semillas también fueron desinfectadas, envasadas y almacenadas durante 7 días a 4ºC. Se evaluó el TPC, la capacidad antioxidante equivalente total (TEAC), los azúcares y la calidad sensorial. El TPC y el TEAC aumentaron sus concentraciones después del cocinado con microondas tanto para las semillas como para las vainas. La concentración de sacarosa y glucosa aumentó después del microondado, mientras que la rafinosa no se detectó después de la cocción. Con respecto a la calidad sensorial, las semillas frescas y microondadas mantuvieron todos los atributos evaluados por encima del límite de aceptabilidad después de 7 días a 4ºC, mientras que las vainas fueron comestibles hasta 14 días a 8ºC. Finalmente, se estudiaron los efectos del tratamiento UV-C (3 kJ m-2), en comparación con semillas no tratadas, sobre la calidad sensorial y microbiana, y el contenido bioactivo y de antinutricionales de las semillas de haba mínimamente procesadas en fresco y cocinadas en microondas. El tratamiento UV-C extendió la vida útil de las semillas de haba frescas de 7 a 10 días a 5ºC. Además, el UV-C redujo la concentración de taninos condensados en comparación con las muestras no irradiadas. Así mismo, el cocinado con microondas redujo el contenido de ácido fítico y de taninos condensados. Teniendo en cuenta que el objetivo general de esta investigación es optimizar varios procesos para desarrollar nuevos alimentos frescos y procesados a partir de variedades nativas de tres especies de legumbres (habas, guisantes y caupí), para estimular el consumo de éstas en la dieta humana diaria, tanto para su consumo en fresco como microondado, se puede decir que con el uso de diversas técnicas de procesamiento mínimo utilizando NaOCl solo o en combinación con recubrimientos comestibles, o alternativamente con desinfectantes químicos (ASC) o físicos (UV-C), se pueden obtener productos vegetales con alta calidad nutricional y alto contenido de compuestos bioactivos, frescos y listos para consumir. [ENG] This doctoral dissertation has been presented in the form of thesis by publication. There is nowadays an important trend in the habits of human food consumption in which natural, healthy, ready-to-eat and safe elaborates are required. An example of this trend is the development of fresh-cut or minimally processed fruit and vegetables. Legumes are an excellent source of many essential nutrients, including proteins and aminoacids, minerals, fiber, vitamins, slow-assimilation carbohydrates and other bioactive compounds, and are low in calories and fat. However, the bioavailability of some nutrients can be reduced by several legume compounds, which are considered to be antinutritional compounds. Nevertheless, such compounds have also been reported to have beneficial health properties. Therefore, the consumption of legumes should be promoted by looking for new ways of presentation in where the product can be consumed fresh and cooked in a suitable container. Legumes are usually consumed as fresh seeds. However, different cooking methods can also be used. This food preparation may cause changes in texture, colour, flavour, or bioactive content. One of these methods is microwave cooking, in which a healthy product could be obtained in a short time without loosing quality. One of the most critical steps in the development of fresh-cut products is disinfection. Although the use of NaOCl is widespread in the industry due to its antimicrobial activity and low cost, it is examined due to the appearance of toxic by-products. Therefore, the study of alternative sanitizing methods is necessary. Others disinfectants, like acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) have been largely applied for the prevention of enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning and, in less extent, to reduce microbial growth at levels that did not adversely affect the sensory quality. Furthermore, UV light can also be an alternative, useful for superficial decontamination, because UV light acts as an antimicrobial agent directly by damaging the microbial DNA and indirectly due to the stimulation of defence mechanisms in vegetables against pathogens, retarding decay and delaying senescence. In addition, edible antimicrobial films or coatings can avoid enzymatic browning and improve quality, safety, shelf life and functionality of food products by reducing moisture transfer, respiration rate and oxidative processes, while minimizing both spoilage and pathogenic microorganism The general objective of this Thesis was to optimize processing steps to develop new fresh and processed foods from native varieties of three legumes species (faba beans, peas and cowpeas). Such legumes are well adapted to several European climates and with high nutritional quality and high content in bioactive compounds. In that way, food of local origin with high protein content could be easily included in the human diet. For fresh produce disinfection, the effects of NaOCl (100 ppm) or alternatively ASC (300 ppm) stored under modified atmosphere packaging at 1 or 4ºC, on quality of fresh-cut immature pea seeds were evaluated. Disinfection with ASC resulted in better sensory quality, higher content of vitamin C and lower psychrofiles counts. Immature pea seeds could be stored up to 14 days at 1–4ºC under MAP with only minor quality changes. Subsequently, the effect of different sanitizers (NaOCl (150 ppm), NaOCl + an edible coating based of sucrose fatty acid esters (EC) and UV–C (3 kJ m-2, 90s)) on quality changes of minimally processed faba seeds stored for 10 days at 4ºC were studied. Periodically, samples were microwaved (700 W, 1 min) to obtain a ready to eat food. The EC treatment showed a positive effect on vitamin C, total phenolics content and tannins content retention, whereas UV-C treated samples showed the highest sugars content values. Additionally, EC or UV-C treatments extended the shelf life of fresh-cut faba seeds from 7 to 10 days at 4ºC regarding NaOCl treatment. As expected, microwaving decreased the concentration of bioactive compounds, but retained the quality of faba seeds allowing to obtain a ready to eat tasteful food. Furthermore, the quality of fresh-cut cowpea, prepared to be eaten raw (immature seeds) or microwaved (seeds and pods), was also evaluated. Fresh cowpea pods were washed with NaClO (150 ppm, pH 6.5, 2 min, 4ºC) and stored for 21 days at 8°C under modified atmosphere packaging (23 kPa CO2/1.5 kPa O2 and 19 kPa CO2/1.2 kPa O2). Additionally, seeds obtained from hulled pods were also disinfected, packaged and stored for 7 days at 4ºC. Total phenolic content (TPC), total equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), sugars and sensory attributes, were evaluated. TPC and TEAC increased after microwaving (700 W, 1 min) for both seeds and pods. Concentration of sucrose and glucose increased after microwaving, while raffinose was not detected after cooking. According to sensory quality, fresh and microwaved seeds maintained all the evaluated attributes above the limit of usability after 7 days at 4ºC, while pods were edible up to 14 days at 8ºC. Finally, the effects of a UV-C treatment (3 kJ m-2), compared with non-illuminated beans, were studied on the sensory and microbial quality and bioactive and anti-nutritional content of fresh-cut and then microwaved faba beans. UV-C treatment extended the fresh-cut faba bean shelf life from 7 to 10 days at 5ºC. Nevertheless, UV-C improved the condensed tannins reductions through storage compared with non-irradiated samples. Microwaving reduced the phytic acid and condensed tannins contents. Since the general objective of this research is to optimize several processes to develop new fresh and processed foods from native varieties of three legume species (faba, pea and cowpea), to stimulate the consumption of these in the daily human diet, both for fresh and microwave consumption, It can be said that with the use of various minimal processing techniques using NaOCl alone or in combination with edible coatings, or alternatively with chemical (ASC) or physical (UV-C) disinfectants, vegetable products with high nutritional quality and high content of bioactive compounds, fresh and ready to eat, can be obtained.Esta tesis doctoral se presenta bajo la modalidad de compendio de publicaciones. Está formada por un total de cuatro artículos: 1. Collado, E., Klug, T.V., Martínez-Sánchez, A., Artés-Hernández, F., Aguayo, E., Artés, F., Fernández, J.A. , Gómez, P.A. (2017). Immature pea seeds. Effect of storage under modified atmosphere packaging and sanitation with acidified sodium chlorite. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 97: 4370-4378. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.8513. 2. Collado, E., Venzke Klug, T., Martínez-Hernández, G.B., Artés-Hernández, F., Martínez-Sánchez, A., Aguayo, E., Artés, F., Fernández, J.A., Gómez, P.A. (2019). UV-C pretreatment of fresh-cut faba beans (Vicia faba) for shelf life extension: Effects of domestic microwaving for consumption. Food Science and Technology International. In press. https://doi.org/10.1177/1082013219873227. 3. Collado, E., Venzke Klug, T., Artés-Hernández, F., Aguayo, E., Artés, F., Fernández, J.A., Gómez, P.A. (2019). Quality changes in nutritional traits of fresh-cut and then microwaved cowpea seeds and pods. Food and Bioprocess Technology. 12: 338-346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11947-018-2214-2. 4. Collado, E., Venzke Klug, T., Martínez-Hernández, G.B Artés-Hernández, F., Martínez-Sánchez, A., Aguayo, E., Artés, F., Fernández, J.A., Gómez, P.A. (2019). Nutritional and quality changes of minimally processed faba (Vicia faba L.) beans during storage: Effects of domestic microwaving. Postharvest Biology and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2019.01.008.Escuela Internacional de Doctorado de la Universidad Politécnica de CartagenaUniversidad Politécnica de CartagenaPrograma de Doctorado de Técnicas avanzadas en investigación y desarrollo agrario y alimentari

A study of processing and storage effects on the major constituents of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum)

Nutritional changes in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) due to various food processes and storage have been studied. Carbohydrates, lipids and proteins were all quantified. Scanning electronmicrographs of the samples were also taken. Analyses were conducted directly after processing and after one-year storage. Results were compared to raw seed and one-year stored raw seed controls. A batch of chickpeas was either presoaked in an aqueous salt medium or in distilled water. The medium solution effectively reduced the cooking time needed for the seeds while water-soaked seeds were used as further controls to observe any adverse effects due directly to the medium. 1. Raw seeds were decorticated and their nutrient composition determined. There was a significant loss of available carbohydrates and protein but lipids were not affected by decortication. Storage brought about further losses in available carbohydrates and protein and significant losses in lipids. 2. Samples of medium-soaked seeds were dehydrated to a moisture content of approximately 3%, resulting in available carbohydrate loss. Proteins were not significantly affected. Storage resulted in further losses in available carbohydrates. No significant losses in protein occurred but its nutritional value was reduced. There was a loss in lipids. 3. Samples of medium-soaked seeds were either immediately frozen at -18&deg;C or precooked and then frozen at -18&deg;C. Losses in available carbohydrates but increases in protein and lipid were noted. Further losses occurred in available carbohydrates on storage but proteins and lipids were well retained.Precooked frozen seeds also showed losses in available carbohydrates but no apparent change was observed in protein and lipid. Further losses occurred in available carbohydrate on storage. Protein content, its nutritional value, and total lipid were significantly reduced.4.Samples of medium-soaked seeds were precooked and canned. These cans were stored at either 22&deg;C or 30&deg;C. Analysis immediately after canning revealed that available carbohydrate contents were reduced, protein was increased while lipid remained unchanged. Storage at 22&deg;C led to further losses in available carbohydrates, lowering of nutritional value of protein and highly significant loss in lipid. Storage of cans at 30&deg;C did not cause any additional losses. Despite the losses in certain samples mentioned there are still certain advantages offered by all the above-mentioned processing and storage conditions which will be further discussed.<p