Use of Legumes in Extrusion Cooking: A Review

The traditional perception that legumes would not be suitable for extrusion cooking is now completely outdated. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to assess the behavior of various types of legume flours in extrusion cooking, proving that legumes have excellent potential for the production of extruded ready-to-eat foods by partially or totally replacing cereals. This review identifies the optimal processing conditions for legume-based and legume-added extruded foods, which allow the improvement of the expansion ratio and give the extrudates the spongy and crisp structure expected by consumers. In particular, the effect of the individual processing parameters on the physical-chemical and nutritional properties of the final product is highlighted. The extrusion cooking process, indeed, has a positive effect on nutritional characteristics, because it induces important modifications on starch and proteins, enhancing their digestibility, and reduces the content of trypsin inhibitors, lectins, phytic acid, and tannins, typically present in legumes. Therefore, the extrusion of legume flours is a viable strategy to improve their nutritional features while reducing home preparation time, so as to increase the consumption of these sustainable crops

The potential of apulian olive biodiversity: The case of oliva rossa virgin olive oil

In this study, the drupes and virgin olive oils extracted from the Oliva Rossa landrace are characterized. Oliva Rossa is an old landrace part of the autochthonous Apulian olive germplasm for which only few data have been reported till now. During the study, the maturity patterns of the drupes had been followed. Four samplings per year were planned, one every 14 days starting from the middle of October. The pigmentation index, the oil content and the total phenolic content of the drupes were measured. Simultaneously, virgin olive oils were extracted at the lab scale and analyzed for the fatty acid composition, the basic quality parameters and the content of minor compounds. The pigmentation pattern of the drupes was different among the years and, despite this trend, at the third sampling time the stage of maximum oil accumulation was always over. The extracted virgin olive oils had a medium to high level of oleic acid. With colder temperatures, a higher level of monounsaturated fatty acids, oleic/linoleic ratio and antioxidants was observed. The phenolic profile was dominated by 3,4-DPHEA-EDA and p-HPEA-EDA while the volatile profile by (E)-2-hexenal and 3-ethyl-1,5-octadiene

Data on the proximate composition, bioactive compounds, physicochemical and functional properties of a collection of faba beans (Vicia faba L.) and lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.)

This dataset is referred to a collection of 41 faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and 15 lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) accessions from the ex situ repository of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IBBR). All the accessions were grown at the experimental farm “P. Martucci” of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” (41°01′22.1′′ N 16°54′21.0′′ E) during the growing season 2017–2018, according to a randomized block design with two replicates, each constituted by 10 individual plants. The dataset reports raw and elaborated analytical data determined on the flour produced from individual accessions, concerning proximate composition, bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, fatty acid composition, and physicochemical and functional properties. Elaborated data might be used to understand the compositional variability within the species and, together with raw data, to highlight peculiar accessions characterized by valuable nutritional and/or technological attitude useful in research institutions and food industries. Furthermore, the data can be used for genetic studies aimed at identifying genomic regions underlying nutritional and technological traits

Antinutritional factors, mineral composition and functional properties of dry fractionated flours as influenced by the type of pulse

Coarse (CF) and Fine (FF) fractions were obtained by dry fractionation (air classification) of raw micronized flour (RM) of kabuli chickpea, green pea, yellow and red lentil. Pea showed the highest phytate content in RM and CF. Stachyose was the main oligosaccharide in lentils, exceeding 50 mg g-1, whereas raffinose (39.9 mg g-1) was abundant in chickpea. Antinutritional factors were significantly enriched in FF, whereas decreased in CF. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence identified potassium as the main macronutrient in pulses. Ca was highly variable, ranging from 0.92 to 0.28 g kg-1 in pea and yellow lentil, respectively. A significant shift of minerals was observed in FF, but despite the highest phytate content, phytate:Zn ratio of lentils was lower than RM, indicating that Zn was enriched more than phytates. Yellow lentil and pea FF showed a protein content higher than 55 g 100g-1. Dry fractionation significantly affected the physicochemical properties, indicating different potential use of fractions

Dry fractionation as a promising technology to reuse the physically defected legume-based gluten-free pasta

Dry fractionation was applied to the legume-based pasta (yellow lentils:whole rice 90:10 w:w) discarded for physical defects. After the air classification, the fine fraction showed a 33% increment of the protein content compared to the raw material, with a 21% yield. The scanning electron micrographs revealed the presence of protein–starch complexes and broken starch granules which led to a low protein separation efficiency. The fine fraction showed interesting nutritional features due to the high concentration of the essential micronutrients Zn (43.3 mg kg−1) and Fe (72.6 mg kg−1). However, also the alpha-galactosides were enriched into the same fraction. The two fractions, fine and coarse, were both characterised by elevated water absorption capacity, with significantly higher values in the fine one. Finally, the gelling capacity varied among the fractions, being influenced by the protein content. Overall, these ingredients could be used to fortify the protein and the essential mineral contents of bakery products, sauces, and creams

Effect of die configuration on the physico-chemical properties, anti-nutritional compounds, and sensory features of legume-based extruded snacks

Legumes are not valued by all consumers, mostly due to the prolonged soaking and cooking process they require. This problem could be solved by preparing legume-based ready-to-eat snacks. In this study, the effect of two different dies (circular and star-shaped, with cross-sections of 19.6 and 35.9 mm2, respectively) on the physico-chemical properties, anti-nutritional compounds, and sensory features of extruded breakfast snacks was determined. Extruded products were obtained from 100% legume flours of red lentil, faba bean, brown pea, and common bean. The extrusion-cooking conditions were 2.5 g/s feed rate; 160 ± 1◦C die temperature; 16 ± 1 g/100 g feed moisture, and 230 rpm screw speed. Star-shaped extrudates showed a lower expansion ratio, degree of starch gelatinization, and water solubility index, as well as higher bulk density, hardness, crunchiness, and lightness (L*) values. The oligosaccharides showed non univocal variations by changing the die, whereas phytates did not vary at all. The extrudates from lentil flour (richer in fiber) were the least preferred by sensory panelists, due to their hard texture. However, the spherical extrudates were preferred over the star-shaped product. These results emphasize the possibility of improving the physico-chemical and sensory properties of legume extrudates by selecting a proper die

Biscuit contaminants, their sources and mitigation strategies: A review

The scientific literature is rich in investigations on the presence of various contaminants in biscuits, and of articles aimed at proposing innovative solutions for their control and prevention. However, the relevant information remains fragmented. Therefore, the objective of this work was to review the current state of the scientific literature on the possible contaminants of biscuits, considering physical, chemical, and biological hazards, and making a critical analysis of the solutions to reduce such contaminations. The raw materials are primary contributors of a wide series of contaminants. The successive processing steps and machinery must be monitored as well, because if they cannot improve the initial safety condition, they could worsen it. The most effective mitigation strategies involve product reformulation, and the use of alternative baking technologies to minimize the thermal load. Low oxygen permeable packaging materials (avoiding direct contact with recycled ones), and reformulation are effective for limiting the increase of contaminations during biscuit storage. Continuous monitoring of raw materials, intermediates, finished products, and processing conditions are therefore essential not only to meet current regulatory restrictions but also to achieve the aim of banning dietary contaminants and coping with related diseases

Macro- And micro-nutrient composition and antioxidant activity of Chickpea and Pea Accessions

Epidemiological studies reported an inverse association between the consumption of legumes and the incidence of age-related diseases. This trend could be attributed to the presence of antioxidant compounds, especially phenolic and flavonoid compounds. In this paper, five pea (Pisum sativum L.) and twelve chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) accessions, having different characteristics and geographical origin, were characterised in terms of antioxidant activity, as well as macro- and micro-nutrient composition. The antioxidant activity has been evaluated using both DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydra-zyl) and ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging capacity assays. Chickpea and pea accessions showed a different behaviour in the presence of these different radicals. Chickpea accessions were characterised by significantly higher DPPH• scavenging activity, while peas showed a significantly higher value of antioxidant activity evaluated using the ABTS assay. Pea accessions had the highest content of total phenolic compounds, Zn, and Cu. A positive correlation was found between some minerals, such as Zn, Cu and P, and the ABTS•+ scavenging activity. Black and brown chickpea accessions showed significantly higher contents of anthocyanins, Mn, Mg, and Ca, which were positively correlated with the antioxidant activity assessed with the DPPH assay. Despite the dataset investigated in our study included a limited number of accessions, it was possible to highlight the influence of the chemical composition on the antioxidant activity due to the high phenotypic diversity found between the accessions, emphasising the importance of selecting the antioxidant activity assay according to the matrix to be evaluated