ABSTRACT
Do m e s t i c consumption of beans is limited by the prolonged preparation times needed to soften beans to acceptable texture (Swanson, 1988). Because water absorption during soaking softens beans and reduces cooking times, beans are generally soaked for 10 to 16 h at room temperature prior to cooking. Development of flat sour and other bacterial growth is a problem associated with prolonged soaking times (Ogwal and Davis, 1994). Soaking beans at temperatures higher than 30°C (Abu-Ghannam and McKenna, 1997) or adding selected salts or chelating agents to soaking solutions (Del Valle et al., 1992) reduces soaking times and softens black beans. Alternative treat ments such as vacuum (Sastry et al., 1985), gamma irradiation (Rao and Vakil, 1983), microwave (Abdul-Kadir et al., 1990), or ultrasonics (Uebersax et al., 1991) are effective in increasing water absorption and reducing cooking times of beans.
