Use of Legumes in Extrusion Cooking: A Review

Abstract

The traditional perception that legumes would not be suitable for extrusion cooking is now completely outdated. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to assess the behavior of various types of legume flours in extrusion cooking, proving that legumes have excellent potential for the production of extruded ready-to-eat foods by partially or totally replacing cereals. This review identifies the optimal processing conditions for legume-based and legume-added extruded foods, which allow the improvement of the expansion ratio and give the extrudates the spongy and crisp structure expected by consumers. In particular, the effect of the individual processing parameters on the physical-chemical and nutritional properties of the final product is highlighted. The extrusion cooking process, indeed, has a positive effect on nutritional characteristics, because it induces important modifications on starch and proteins, enhancing their digestibility, and reduces the content of trypsin inhibitors, lectins, phytic acid, and tannins, typically present in legumes. Therefore, the extrusion of legume flours is a viable strategy to improve their nutritional features while reducing home preparation time, so as to increase the consumption of these sustainable crops.

Complementing Cereal Grains with Pulse Grains to Enhance the Nutritional and Environmental Sustainability Profiles of Manufactured Foods in Canada and the United States​

“…Thus, soybeans and peanuts are not pulses. The low level of lipids is a positive attribute that can broaden the application of pulses within the food innovation pipeline, since lipids can interfere with some processing technologies, such as extrusion (59). This can permit unfractionated, nutrient-dense pulse flours to be used in a wide variety of food platforms.…”

Sulfonic Acid-Functionalized SBA-15 as Strong Cation-Exchange Sorbent for Solid-Phase Extraction of Atropine and Scopolamine in Gluten-Free Grains and Flours

“…For example, amaranth, buckwheat, chickpea, corn, millet and quinoa flours have been evaluated on GF bread production as wheat flours substitutes [ 1 , 4 ]. To improve its nutritional quality, GF cakes, cookies, pasta and snacks have been successfully produced from sorghum, millet, pea and lentil flours [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. In recent years, the interest in teff has also increased noticeably, making it a suitable and alternative product to prepare GF foods nutritionally improved [ 8 ].…”

Symbolic meaning and use of broad beans in traditional foods of the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East

“…The content of antinutrients is generally reduced by peeling (dehulling), sprouting, soaking, boiling [17,18], and extrusion cooking [21]. Significant leaches in the soaking medium have been reported also for phenolic compounds [22]. The phenolic content and antioxidant activity of faba beans are affected by cooking [13,14,21].…”