Location: Sugarbeet and Bean Research
Project Number: 5050-21430-012-004-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2022
End Date: Aug 31, 2025
Objective:
1) Characterize off-flavors in pulse cultivars and their changes across processing steps, from raw to finished product, using descriptive sensory analysis.
2) Identify chemical determinants of off-flavors in pulses.
Approach:
Sample Preparation
Bean seeds will be milled either 1) raw, or 2) pretreated beans (dry heated to 110°C for 70 min) using a hammer mill (and passed through a sieve of 0.5 mm to produce two types of flour for bean genotypes.
Both the raw and pretreated flours will be used to prepare porridges for human consumption and volatile analysis. Porridges were chosen as a simple product that can easily be made and evaluated and where the flavor profile will be readily detected.
Raw whole beans will also be cooked via boiling after presoaking in distilled water for 12 hr at room temperature. The boiled beans will serve as a comparison for the bean flours and porridges, to understand if different preparation methods still allow the detection of off aromas and flavors.
Sensory Characterization
To characterize the sensory flavor profile of bean samples, quantitative descriptive sensory analysis of whole boiled beans and bean porridges will be conducted using a trained sensory panel recruited from the greater Lansing, Michigan area. Following training, panelists will make individual sensory evaluations in triplicate for 18 bean samples varying in cultivar and processing method across 6 evaluation sessions. Sensory analysis has been approved by a cooperator review board.
Volatile Identification
Sample volatiles identification, fingerprinting and semi-quantification of volatiles from pulses, pulse flours and pulse porridges will be conducted using solid phase micro extraction and GC-MS.
