Pulses or legumes

Peas and Beans

Fabaceae

• Second most important family for humans• A combination of grain and pulses is seen

in major civilization– Barley and lentils; rice and soybeans; corn

and beans

• Fabaceae is diverse and has about 16,000 species

• Common features are the flowers and fruits (a legume)

Fabaceae

• Three subfamilies– Faboideae – main source of pulses (Dried

seeds)– Caesalpinoidae – tamarind and carob

• Plants have root nodules – increases the nutrients of the soil– More protein in the fruits– Non-protein amino acids (some toxic)– Good rotation crop

Nutrients

• Protein: CHO: fat: fiber are 20:70:8:4 percent.

• Protein: lack Met and cysteine and some sulfur containing amino acids

• CHO: raffinose and stachyose series. Hard to digest, flactulence. Alpha –galactosidase from Aspergillas.

• Fat has unsaturated fatty acids; hihgest in peanuts

Nutrients

• Non-protein amino acids

• Some have anti-nutritional factor

• Protease inhibitor

• Isoflavone

• Dissolve fiber

Lentils

• Lens culinaris –Shape of eye lens. 25% proteins, 60% CHO, less than 1% fat vit A &B abd calcium

• Middle East between 8000-9000years ago

• Domesticated

• Has most digestible and most commonly eaten pulse

Peas

• Pisum sativum

• Near East and Europe, 8000 – 9500 years old but not sure whether grow or gathered.

• Brought ot New world by Columbus

• Eaten fresh

• Chinese snow peas has low fiber and selected 17th century

• Sugar snap peas – recent 1979

Broad beans

• Vicia faba: mainly hog feed

• Middle East origin

• Favism: hemolytic anemia; due to defective gene; glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase; due to vicine that oxidizes and degrades RBC

Chickpeas

• Cicer arietinum: forage has toxic proteins

• Near Eastern

• Do not like cool climates

• Quality and easily digestible proteins

Soy beans

• Glycine max: Native of China

• High is proteins sulfur containing ones

• Isoflavones: genestine; daizein

• Phytosterols

• Antivitamins; protease inhibitors; cyanogens; saponins

Pigean peas

• Cajanus cajan

Black-eye peas

• Vigna unguiculata

Lima beans

• Phaseolus lunatas/limensis

• Lima; kidney or garden beans(P.vulgaris); green or mung beans(P. aureus); blackgram (P.mungo)

Peanuts

• Arachis hypogea: pedicles enter the ground for fruit to mature

• Unique flowering and fruiting

• 45% oils; 20-25% proteins;

• South America – origin

• Mainly used as roasted seeds; peanut butter and oil

Tamarind and carob

• Tamarindus indica

• Ceratonina siliqua