Effect of soaking and ultrasound treatments on texture of chickpea.

Effect of soaking time (20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300, 320, 340, 360, 380, 400, 420, 440, 460, 480 and 500 min) and temperature (20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 87, 92 and 97°C) together with ultrasound application (25 kHz 100 W and 25 kHz 300 W) on texture of chickpea was investigated. Soaking time, temperature, application of ultrasounds and power of ultrasounds had significant effect (P < 0.05) on texture of chickpea. An Asymptotic first order texture model was successfully fitted to correlate texture of chickpea with soaking time and temperature. Texture model rate constant (kF) increased from 1.68 × 10(-4) to 19.20 × 10(-4) s(-1) for a temperature change from 20 to 97°C without and with 25 kHz 100 W, 25 kHz 300 W ultrasound treatments. Average gelatinization temperature of chickpea using the model was found to be 60 ± 1°C. Activation energy (Ea) values of chickpea for below and above gelatinization temperature were found to be 26.49 and 9.73 kJ mol(-1), respectively. Time to reach equilibrium texture level (te) of soaked chickpeas decreased from 941 to 82 min with increase of temperature from 20 to 97°C ultrasounds of 25 kHz 100 W and 25 kHz 300 W. In the food industry, chickpea is pre-processed (soaked and cooked) to produce humus, canned products and blended powder products. Ultrasonic treatments can be applied to soften and inturn decrease the cooking time of the chickpeas.