Bean Hardness Research Articles

SEED COAT EFFECTS IN COOKED RECONSTITUTED BEAN TEXTURE

The contribution of seed coat to cooked reconstituted bean texture was assessed by measuring sensory and instrumental parameters of beans with and without coats and also seed coats alone. Experiments using white beans stored for one year under tropical conditions to induce the hard‐to‐cook (HTC) defect or temperate conditions both resulted in reductions in the order of 50% in puncture force and sensory properties of beans when the seed coat had been removed. HTC bean texture was influenced less by absence of the seed coat than texture of soft beans. Seed coats softened during cooking but those from HTC beans softened less than those from soft beans. It is possible that seed coats harden during tropical storage by a lignification‐type mechanism. Beans with harder seed coats absorbed less water during soaking which may contribute further to bean hardness.

Soaking and cooking parameters of tepary beans: effects of cooking time and cooking temperature on hardness and activity of nutritional antagonists

Tepary samples were examined for patterns of hydration, dry matter losses during the processes of soaking and cooking, residual hardness in partially cooked samples and heat lability of endogenous proteinaceous antinutritional factors. At 24 °C, teparies imbibed water equivalent to their weight (100% hydration) in 4 h and continued to absorb water rapidly for an additional 4 h before reaching an equilibrium hydration. During the processes of soaking and cooking, materials leached from raw beans represented 7.3 and 13.5% of their dry weight, 4.3 and 12.4% of their protein content, 7.1 and 12.2% of their stored carbohydrate and 22.4 and 33.4% of their mineral levels, respectively. In samples prepared at different cooking times (60, 90, 120, 150, 180 min) and cooking temperatures (80, 85, 90, 95°C), longer times and higher temperatures resulted in greater reductions in residual bean hardness; interactive effects of time and temperature treatments were significant. Residual activity of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors in partially-cooked samples appeared to be negligible. In addition, at least 80% of the original hemaglutinating activity of lectins in raw beans was lost during partial-cooking of samples under all cooking regimes.