Effect of presoak treatment on cooking characteristics and nutritional functionality of rice bean

The effect of soaking rice bean on proximate composition, cooking characteristics, phytic acid, polyphenols content and functional properties were investigated. This study aimsed at comparing the changes that occured on soaking of blanched rice bean seeds in distilled water for 12 h and in salt solution (1.5% NaHCO₃, 0.5% Na₂CO₃ and 0.75% citric acid, pH 7.0 ± 0.1) for 3, 6, 9 and 12 h each. Soaking, significantly (P < 0.05) increased the water absorption and dispersal of solids while it decreased the cooking time following increase in time of soaking. The anti-nutrients viz., polyphenols and phytic acid significantly decreased during soaking. The decrease in phytic acidwas higherinsaltsolutionsoaking ascomparedto distilled water soaking. Soaking of beans for 12 h in different solutions did not show remarkable changes in proximate composition of rice bean flours. But foaming and emulsifying properties, nitrogen solubility and PCMP number showed a negative correlation, whereas, bulk density, water and oil absorption capacity showed a positive correlation with soaking time.