MOISTURE CONTENT EFFECT ON EXTRUDED PEA (PISUM SATIVUM L.) PRODUCT PHYSICAL PROPERTIES.

From legume seeds it is possible to make new products with different physical properties such as size and hardness by using extrusion-cooking. Peas are products that normally need a rather long cooking time, but extrusion-cooking can make them more usable in daily human diet. As protein based food products in markets are less represented than those based on carbohydrates, but for balanced diet protein intake is essential, our aim was to ensure availability of such products, so experiments were carried out in order to establish optimal moisture content for grey pea (Pisum sativum L.) flour extrusion. Three grey pea (Pisum sativum L.) based products were obtained with different water amount added before extrusion, and their size, volume mass and colour was analyzed in order to ascertain what amount of water is best for such products. Results show significant differences for size, volume mass and colour changes, establishing that the best of the products was the one with 9.00±0.01 g∙100g-1 added water. This product had better characteristics than others, where 11.00±0.01 g∙100 g-1 and 7.00±0.01 g∙100 g-1 water was added. The products with 9.00±0.01 g∙100 g-1 added water were by more than 100 g∙L-1 lighter than other products, also colour changes compared to non extruded pea flour were fewer than for other samples and their size was the biggest of all obtained products, averagely 11±1mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]