Effect of experimental flour preparation and thermal treatment on the volatile properties of aqueous chickpea flour suspensions

Present study investigated the impact of flour preparation and thermal processing on the headspace volatile profile of aqueous suspensions of three different chickpea flour types (non-gelatinised open cell flour, pre gelatinised open cell flour and pre-gelatinised closed cell flour). Suspensions with non-gelatinised chickpea flour contained higher abundances of several aldehydes, alcohols and hydrocarbons, resulting from enzymatic lipid breakdown, compared to the suspensions with pre-gelatinised open or closed cell flour, as enzymes were not inactivated during the production of the former flour. Pre-gelatinised open cell flour contained higher abundances of compounds including dimethyl sulphide, methyl thioacetate and trichloromethane. Additionally, cell intactness influenced the volatile profile of chickpea flour to a limited extent, as pre-gelatinised closed cell flour contained the lowest number of discriminant compounds. Even after thermal processing, the volatile profiles of the three chickpea flour types remained distinct, although during this processing several volatiles were broken down and thermal degradation of fatty acids and amino acids additionally occurred. It was concluded that the pre-gelatinisation step during flour production was the most dominant factor influencing the volatile composition of flour suspensions and that additional research is required to compare the volatile profile of the flour types in presence of other food ingredients.

Automated summary

This study investigated the impact of flour preparation and thermal processing on the volatile profile of chickpea flour suspensions. Non-gelatinised flour suspensions contained higher levels of aldehydes, alcohols, and hydrocarbons, while pre-gelatinised open cell flour had higher levels of other compounds. Cell intactness had a limited effect on the volatile profile, with pre-gelatinised closed cell flour having the lowest number of discriminant compounds. Even after thermal processing, the volatile profiles of the three flour types remained distinct.