Changes of nutritional, digestion and antioxidant characteristics of chickpea during cooking processes

Based on the literature, cooking can alter the nutritional properties and functionality of food. So five representative cooking methods (boiling, steaming, roasting, stir-frying and deep-frying) were selected to process the chickpea. This study aimed to elucidate how different cooking influenced nutrient composition, protein structure, and digestibility in chickpea. Compared to raw, the ash and protein contents of cooked chickpea decreased, while an obvious increase in total carbohydrate and iodine blue value was observed in five cooking methods. Deep-frying kept more fat, iodine blue value, total starch, total carbohydrate and total energy. After chickpea of cooking treatment, the protein digestibility and antioxidant activity improved, the starch digestion rate decreased. FTIR spectra also showed that the cooking method could affect the secondary structures in chickpea, such as the steaming had the highest random coil conformation. Accordingly, the experimental results can provide a valuable reference for availing chickpea through appropriate cooking methods.