Compartmental Water Uptake Model of Pulses During Hydrothermal Processing: Example of Application to Cooking of Navy Beans

Despite being ranked at the top of the list of sustainable crops, the consumption of pulses in developed countries is still limited due to the consumers' perception of long preparation time and potential gastrointestinal upsets. For exploring the best technological routes to obtain pulses-based products with better sensorial quality, we propose a transfers-reactions model that describes the evolution of temperature, water and phase transitions updated in real time during their hydrothermal processing. A simplified view of the compartmented water uptake between (protein-fiber-native starch) and gelatinized starch was assumed. As an application example, the predictive description capacity of the model was evaluated in navy beans subjected to different temperatures (30 degrees C <= T <= 115 degrees C) and times (8 min <= t <= 8 h). Identified water apparent diffusivity coefficients (10(-12) m(2)/s <= D <= 10(-9) m(2)/s) were in good agreement with those reported in the literature. Indeed, this simplified modeling approach produced fairly good predictions of the degree of gelatinization compared to experimental measurements under different conditions. The model is therefore a promising approach to understand, control and optimize the hydrothermal processing of pulses.