Pulses pasta: innovation from the past

Pasta is an increasingly popular food worldwide and different formulations have been developed to improve its nutritional profile. Among other ingredients, pulses could meet the growing consumer interest in healthy and sustainable diets. Moreover, the absence of gluten makes them suitable for gluten-free diets. This study aims at understanding the relationships between raw materials and processing conditions and their effect on starch structure and pasta quality. In the first part of the work, the cooking behavior of commercial pulse pasta was investigated in relation to starch and protein features to provide an insight on how their molecular organization may affect cooking behavior. After that, the role of processing was investigated. Commercial chickpea and red lentil pasta from two Italian producers (indicated with the letters A and B were considered). All pasta showed a fair cooking behavior, with high water absorption (> 100%), low cooking loss (< 10%) and high consistency (> 400 N). Only one sample of chickpea pasta showed cooking loss values above 11% and a consistency below 300 N. Regardless of the manufacturer, chickpea pasta generally had higher water absorption and cooking loss values than red lentil pasta, and a lower consistency. These differences could be due to the different structure and organization of proteins and starch between the two types of legumes. Regardless of the raw material considered, samples from manufacturer A showed greater cooking loss and less firmness than pasta from manufacturer B, both at the optimal cooking time (7 min) and overcooking (9 min). These differences - which appear more evident in chickpea samples than in red lentil ones - could be attributable to the production process since, as discussed above, their chemical composition reported on the label is similar. Thus the second part of the work focused on the role of processing. Unlike what has been observed for gluten-free pasta from rice and corn, it was possible to produce dry pasta in a continuous press without subjecting pulses to pre-gelatinization treatment. The latter, in fact, does not seem to influence the cooking behavior of the pasta. Pasta produced by conventional extrusion (with or without pre-gelatinization of the raw material) shows low cooking losses (< 6%) and an acceptable consistency (on average 650 N). The main differences concern the surface appearance of the product: in fact, the product produced by conventional extrusion of native flour (not pre-gelatinized) shows a greater surface heterogeneity than the others, with the presence of white dots suggesting uneven hydration during the kneading phase. The defect is greatly attenuated in case the flour is pre-treated before kneading. In conclusion, pulse pasta currently available on the market has a good cooking behavior, although with some differences probably due to a different production process. Experimental trials suggest that, although it is possible to produce pasta by conventional extrusion of pulse as it is (not pregelatinized), surely pregelatinization improves the hydration phase and therefore the aspect of the finished product.