The application of Peleg's equation to model water absorption during the soaking of red kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

The soaking process of unblanched and blanched red kidney beans was studied at 20, 30, 40 and 60 degrees C and the resulting hydration data was fitted to Peleg's equation. Due to plasticity development in the beans' seed coat and the elimination of the hard shell beans during blanching Peleg's equation was found to describe the hydration process of blanched beans more adequately than the unblanched beans. An inverse linear relationship was found between the soaking temperature of blanched beans and Peleg constant K-1, while Peleg constant K-2 was unaffected by the soaking temperature. The predictive capability of Peleg's equation for blanched beans was examined and differences between experimental and predicted values were nor significant at the 5% level (P <0.05). (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.