EFFECTS OF COOKING ON CONTENT OF AMINO-ACIDS AND ANTINUTRIENTS IN 3 CHINESE INDIGENOUS LEGUME SEEDS

The effects of domestic cooking on the content of amino acids and anti nutrients of Phaseolus angularis, Phaseolus calcaratus and Dolichos la blab seeds were evaluated. Heat treatment (30 min) caused significant declines (P < 0.05) in the apparent recovery of most of the essential amino acids except leucine and phenylalanine for P angularis, and exce pt phenylalanine for P calcaratus. Cooking D lablab seeds (60 min) als o resulted in a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the apparent recov ery of all the essential amino acids except leucine, histidine, lysine and threonine. Increased cooking time for P angularis (60 min), P cal caratus (60 min) and D lablab (120 min) led to a lower apparent recove ry of methionine (28.9-31.6%) and cystine (17.1-19.3%). Even with incr eased cooking times, the total essential amino acid levels in all thre e cooked seeds remained higher than that of the FAO/WHO requirement, e xcept for methionine and cystine. Cooking (60 min) was found to be eff ective in reducing the tannin contents of P angularis, P calcaratus an d D lablab seeds by 70.6, 64.6 and 74.6%, respectively. Upon cooking, phytate and trypsin inhibitory activity in different seeds were also r educed to different extents depending on the cooking times.