The transitioning feature between uncooked and cooked cowpea seeds studied by the mechanical compression test

Teko Ekoué, Elolo Osseyi, Claire D. Munialo, Komla Ako

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Mechanical tests can allow for the mimicking of the textural attributes of foods as perceived by humans. Here we report on the use of the mechanical compression test to study the reactions underlying the cooking of the cowpea seeds (beans) until doneness. The creep test was applied to deal with the time-dependence of the strain, ε(t), at a constant force and to derive the elasticity, Ke and viscosity, Kv indices for the different heating times. The results, ε(t), were fitted using mostly a stretched exponential with a linear asymptotic (time) function. The flow rate (ω) and the strain (ε) are the constants of the asymptotic function. Both viscoelasticity indices decreased strongly before the first 30 min (from 562 N to 14 N for Ke and from 5.4 × 106 N s to 0.11 × 106 N s for Kv), but from 30 to 75 min ± 3 min, Ke remained almost constant (~14 N) while Kv increases (from 0.11 × 106 to 0.24 × 106 N s). Both viscoelasticity indices decreased strongly again after 75 min ± 3 min (from 14 N to 0.24 × 106 N s for Ke and Kv respectively). The heating time-dependence of the viscoelasticity indices clearly reflects the cowpeas beans transitioning to the cooked state and this may be correlated directly to the kinetic of water absorption, starch gelatinization and protein denaturation. This would correlate not only to the cooking time but also to the nutrient quantity balance. The results from this study shows that the samples mechanical properties with the simmering time correlate with the cooking reaction transitioning.

Original languageEnglish
Article number110368
JournalJournal of Food Engineering
Volume292
Early online date6 Oct 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Food Engineering. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Food Engineering, 292, (2021) DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2020.110368

© 2021, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Funder

This work was financially supported by the educational ministry of TOGO. The Laboratoire Rh?ologie et Proc?d?s (LRP) is part of the LabEx Tec 21 (Investissements d'Avenir - grant agreement n?ANR-11-LABX-0030) and of the PolyNat Carnot Institut Investissements d'Avenir - grant agreement n?ANR-11-CARN-030-01).

Keywords

  • Cooking time
  • Cowpeas
  • Gelatinization
  • Stiffness
  • Texture
  • Yielding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Food Science

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