Effect of cooking in whey on the biological value of beans

Abstract

Beans are an essential food and the primary protein source for many people worldwide, and there is a need to develop affordable and nutritious bean-based food products, particularly for individuals who are unable to consume animal protein due to financial or health constraints. This study aimed to investigate how cooking beans in whey can affect the biological value and the activity of protease inhibitors (TIA) of the bean puree obtained. Bean seeds were soaked in water for (5–6) hours, then cooked in the whey after discarding water. Boiled beans were then coarsely ground and followed by fine grinding after removing cooking liquid; the obtained bean puree was cooled to 20 °C. Following the same method, the control sample was prepared using water as a cooking liquid. Bean puree obtained from whey-cooking (BPCW) was compared to control (bean puree obtained from water-cooking (BPW)) in terms of trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) and the relative biological value (RBV%) using the test organism (Tetrahymena Pyriformis). TIA in BPCW decreased by (6,7 %; 3,8 % – for water soluble and salt soluble TIA respectively). RBV % showed a significant increase (25 %) after treating samples with whey compared to control, demonstrating the efficacy of incorporating bean puree obtained by this method to develop highly nutritious bean-based foodstuffs for specialized and functional purposes.