Location: Sugarbeet and Bean Research
Project Number: 5050-21430-012-018-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2024
End Date: Aug 31, 2027
Objective:
1) Breeding interventions to provide organic farmers access to new dry bean varieties with improved seed durability and end-use quality attributes for both processors and consumers; 2) Development and quality assessment of thermally-processed beans in recyclable pouches and individually quick frozen (IQF) beans;
3) Assess consumer acceptance and marketing potential of value-added organic beans; and 4) Conduct extension outreach with farmers, processors, and marketers of organic beans.
Approach:
Objective 1: Specific to ARS) Pinto, black, yellow and kidney bean breeding will be conducted under organic production conditions. Traits of emphasis will include seed harvestability and vigor, cooking time and processing quality in pouches and as frozen beans. This work builds upon our existing organic bean breeding work and our prior work to identify germplasm that is well suited for organic production. We plan to follow a pedigree breeding strategy.
Approach for the other objectives to be conducted by cooperator: Since dry beans are processed in- package to ensure food safety, there is a need to investigate recyclable packaging options that can withstand processing temperatures of 240-250 ºF. The proposed work involves assessing pouch integrity during processing and analyzing physical, chemical, and sensory properties of in-pouch processed beans Besides processing beans in recyclable pouches, there also is a need to develop new value-added organic bean products that preserve nutritional content and offer ready-to- use/eat convenience. The cooperator will develop fully cooked individually quick frozen (IQF) organic beans; a product similar to frozen peas. The cooked IQF beans will be packaged in traditional steamable bags. Besides physico-chemical and sensory quality assessment, the impact of extended frozen store on quality IQF beans will also be investigated.
