A STUDY OF THE COOKING QUALITY AND NUTRITION COMPOSITION OF DECORTICATED COOKED FABABEANS

Abstract

Legume seeds have been used as human foods for more than 80 centuries and are still (1) . Food legumes are amongst the earliest food crops cultivated by man. The dry mature seeds , which have a high food value and store well , play an important part in the diets of most of the peoples in the world (2), ranking only second to cereals (2, 3), as a source of protein in tenns of intake for most developing countries (3). 1n Egypt faba beans (Viciafaba) is the most important cmmnon legume for human nutrition, espesially among low income families (4). It constitue about 80% of the total pulses that are locally produced (5). About 60% of the crop is used for human consumption, being eaten in various fonns. The mature seeds mainly stewed (Foul Medammis) and served after seasoning with oil or butter (4). The consumption of beans is, however, curtailed because of the long cooking time needed to achieve the desired palatability, digesta­ bility and to inactivate antinutrional factors (6).Moreover the presence of antinutrional factors in Vicia faba products could limit their utilization for human consumption (7). 1n addition, extended cooking may result in large nutrient losses and appreciable research efforts have been devated to optimizing soaking I cooking treatments (8).