Hard-to-cook phenomenon in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L): Effect of accelerated storage on quality

Storage, at high temperature (greater than or equal to 25 degrees C) and hi gh relative humidity (greater than or equal to 65%), causes development of hard to cook (HTC) phenomenon in grain legumes. The objective of this work was to study the effect of storage simulating tropical conditions on chickp eas quality. The hardening of the Surutato 77, Mocorito 88, and Blanco Sina loa 92 chickpea varieties was produced using adverse storage (32 +/- 1 degr ees C, RH = 75%, 160 days) conditions. For all samples, the Hunter 'L' valu es decreased and Delta E values increased during storage, meaning a loss of color lightness and development of darkening. Accelerated storage caused a significant decrease in the water absorption capacities and cooking times of whole seeds, cotyledons and seed coats of all samples, being more pronou nced in The Blanco Sinaloa 92 variety. Furthermore, storage produced signif icant decreases in the seed coat tannin content of the three materials; thi s parameter increased significantly in the cotyledon. In all samples, the l evels of phytic acid decreased significantly with the seed hardness. Harden ing of chickpea grains caused a decrease in the in vitro protein digestibil ities of all varieties. These results suggest that both the cotyledon and s eed coat play a significant role in the process of chickpea hardening. Blan co Sinaloa 92 and Mocorito 88 might be classified as varieties with high an d low proneness, respectively, to the development of the HTC condition.