Enhancing quick-cooking bean quality: The impact of salt concentrations on soaking of fresh and aged Brazilian genotypes

Abstract

AimThis study aimed to investigate the feasibility of preparing quick-cooking beans from freshly harvested and aged beans with HTC defects from two Brazilian bean genotypes and to evaluate the influence of different salt concentrations in the soaking step. MethodTwo Brazilian bean genotypes (BRS Estilo and BRS Esteio) that were freshly harvested and aged with hard-to-cook (HTC) defects were used to produce quick-cooking beans by testing different treatments with saline solutions (0.5 %, 1.0 %, and 1.5 %) sodium bicarbonate [NaHCO3] and sodium chloride [NaCl]) in the soaking stage. The cooking time, water absorption, damaged grains, colorimetric profile, visual characteristics, and hardness were analyzed. ResultsThe use of salts in the soaking step promoted reductions of up to 95 % in the cooking time of the beans. The shortest cooking times and highest water absorption were observed with NaHCO3 treatments. After processing, browning of the tegument was observed in BRS Estilo, whereas BRS Esteio exhibited the opposite behavior. Beans soaked in NaHCO3 showed higher levels of damage, regardless of the evaluated genotype; however, HTC beans showed less damage and higher hardness than freshly harvested beans. ConclusionDifferent concentrations of NaCl and NaHCO3 enabled the elaboration of beans with greater water absorption capacity, shorter cooking times, and lower hardness. The 1.0 % NaCl treatment produced quick-cooking beans with better characteristics. The use of salts during the soaking step can help in the preparation of quick-cooking beans, providing improvements in technological quality, especially for HTC beans.