Microondas

ARTICLE IN PRESS
JOURNAL OF FOOD COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] www.elsevier.com/locate/jfca

Original Article

Nutritional composition of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as affected by microwave cooking and other traditional cooking methods
Saleh A. Alajaji, Tarek A. El-AdawyÃ
Food Process Technology Department, Buraydah College of Agriculture Technology, P.O. 266, Al-Qassim, Buraydah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Received 15 June 2005; received in revised form 7 February 2006; accepted 9 March 2006

Abstract The effects of microwave cooking and other traditional cooking methods such as boiling and autoclaving on the nutritional composition and anti-nutritional factors of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) were studied. Cooking treatments caused significant (Po0:05) decreases in fat, total ash, carbohydrate fractions (reducing sugars, sucrose, raffinose and stachyose, while verbascose was completely eliminated after cooking treatments), antinutritional factors (trypsin inhibitor, haemagglutinin activity, tannins, saponins and phytic acid), minerals and B-vitamins. Cooking treatments decreased the concentrations of lysine, tryptophan, total aromatic and sulfurcontaining amino acids. However, cooked chickpeas were still higher in lysine, isoleucine and total aromatic amino acid contents than the FAO/WHO reference. The losses in B-vitamins and minerals in chickpeas cooked by microwaving were smaller than those cooked by boiling and autoclaving. In-vitro protein digestibility, protein efficiency ratio and essential amino acid index were improved by all cooking treatments. The chemical score and limiting amino acid of chickpeas subjected to the various cooking treatments varied considerably, depending on the type of treatment. Based on these results, microwave cooking is recommended for chickpea preparation, not only for improving nutritional quality (by reducing the level of antinutritional and flatulence factors as well