Influence of seed composition and size on the hydrothermal behavior of chickpeas and lentils

Hydrothermal behavior of seeds is a key parameters of cooking quality. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of biochemical composition and seed weight of lentil and chickpea seeds on their water absorption properties and cooking time distribution. Two lentil cultivars (Anicia and Rosana) and three kabuli-type chickpea cultivars (Badil, Twist, and Elixir) were characterized for 11 and 10 batches, respectively. Water absorption kinetics during cooking were fitted by the Peleg model. Average cooking time and cooking homogeneity were derived from cooking time distribution measured by Mattson cooker. For both species, seed batches with lower cooking times showed greater cooking homogeneity (r = 0.75 for lentils and r = 0.78 for chickpeas). Surprisingly, no correlation was observed between water absorption parameters and cooking time and homogeneity. For chickpeas, smaller seeds presented higher initial water absorption rates (r = 0.70). For lentils, cooking time was found to be influenced by some monosaccharides constituting cell wall polysaccharides (r = 0.79 for arabinose and r = 0.85 for xylose). Results suggest that during cooking, chickpea water absorption is mainly governed by seed weight whereas cell wall polysaccharides play a major role in lentil mechanical resistance.