Effect of Some Technological Treatments on the Chemical and Nutritional Properties of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Seeds

Abstract

This work was carried out to study the effect of soaking, cooking and roasting on the chemical composition and nutritional properties of two types of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds (Kabuli and Desi). The obtained results revealed that:  crude protein content was slightly decreased by the three technological treatments (soaking, cooking and roasting). Cooking and roasting effect on protein contents was higher than that of soaking. Roasting helped to occur a slight increase  in the ash content, where  total carbohydrates of both types of chickpea seeds were not affected by the three treatments. Chickpea seeds are considered a good source of minerals especially iron. Remarkable decrement in minerals content was recorded as a function of soaking and cooking.  The loss in minerals content that took place as a function of cooking was  higher than those of soaking. In addition, the recorded loss in trace elements were higher than those of major elements. On contrary, minerals of chickpea seeds show slight increases when treated by roasting. Soaking significantly reduced chickpea polyphenols. Furthermore roasting process was less effective than either soaking or cooking treatments in reducing polyphenols. All technological treatments significantly reduced the phytic acid and trypsin inhibitiors. Soaking and cooking treatments were more effective than roasting in reducing phytic acid content, but soaking was less effective than either cooking or roasting treatments in reducing trypsin inhibitiors.