Role of steaming and Toasting on the Odor, Protein Characteristics of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Flour, and Product Quality

Abstract

Proteins play an important role in imparting functional attributes like texture and shape, which determine the sensory quality of the foods. Boondi, a deep fried product from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) flour dispersion, is a popular snack food in India. Chickpea dhal (splits) or flour was subjected to various processing conditions like steaming and toasting, to determine their effect on the chickpea flour protein characteristics and on the product quality. Dhal and flour subjected to different heat treatments showed differences in their odor profiles. The SDS-PAGE of sodium phosphate buffer extracts of steamed dhal or flour showed that the high molecular weight (HMW) proteins of 66 to 100 kDa that were present in the untreated dhal were found to be absent in steamed dhal extracts. However, SDS buffer extracts on SDS-PAGE of these steamed samples did not show any difference between untreated and thermally treated dhal samples. Phosphate buffer extracts of the thermally treated flours were subjected to gel filtration chromatography and the results indicated that the HMW protein fraction content decreased significantly in the treated dhal or flour samples compared to control. Boondi prepared from the thermally treated dhal samples resulted in the loss of spherical shape of boondi. Thus, the results indicate that thermal treatment of chickpea dhal and flour influence changes in protein characteristics, the sensory profile and quality of boondi.