Nutritional evaluation of products prepared from fresh beans

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the nutritional composition of products prepared from fresh beans. Four types of fresh beans powder viz. cluster bean (Cyamposis tetragonaloba), cowpea bean (Vigna unguic-ulata), french bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris) and sem bean (Dolichhos lablab) were used for dry vegetable preparation. Moisture content of beans vegetable prepared using fresh beans ranged from 76.49 to 82.25 per cent. The cowpea bean vegetable had the highest (17.19%) and sem bean vegetable had the lowest (12.67%) amount of crude pro-tein. Crude fiber content was found to be highest in cowpea bean vegetable (6.69%) followed by cluster bean vege-table (6.60%), french bean vegetable (6.41%) and sem bean vegetable (5.54%). Among the four types of beans vegetables, total, insoluble and soluble dietary fiber content was found to be highest in cluster bean vegetable and the lowest in sem bean vegetable. Sem bean vegetable contained the maximum (135.81 mg/100g and 251.46 mg/100g) amount of calcium and phosphorus while french bean vegetable contained the minimum (51.03 mg/100gand 243.55 mg/100g) amount. Iron content was significantly (P<0.05) higher in cluster bean vegetable and cowpea bean vegetable as compared to french bean vegetable and sem bean vegetable. Cowpea bean vegetable contained the maximum (101.51mg/100g) while sem bean contained minimum (61.19mg/100g) amount of magnesium-um. It was observed that all the four types of beans vegetable differed significantly (p?0.05) among themselves for their potassium content. Earlier studies were conducted on raw seeds or pods of beans but information on cooked beans was scanty. This study explains about the effect of cooking on different nutritional components of fresh beans pods.