Influence of pretreatment on cooking quality parameters of dry food legumes

Abstract

The effects of some pretreatment procedures on end-use quality of food legumes commonly consumed in the Middle East were examined. Soaking reduced both the cooking time and its variation for all pulses tested. Soaking with NaHCO3 further decreased cooking time for chickpea and lentil but increased it for faba bean. In faba bean and lentil, but not in chickpea, the cooking times of dry and soaked seed were highly correlated. Dehulling also reduced cooking time in lentil. For preparation of the dish Hommos Bitehineh, whole chickpea of the desi type was inferior to the kabuli type but dehulling desi seed improved the quality of the product. Acceptability of Hommos Bi-tehineh was uninfluenced by seed size but reduced by soaking in NaHCO3.