Legume byproducts as ingredients for food applications: Preparation, nutrition, bioactivity, and techno-functional properties.

The demand for high-quality alternative food proteins has increased over the last few decades due to nutritional and environmental concerns, leading to the growing consumption of legumes such as common bean, chickpea, lentil, lupin, and pea. However, this has also increased the quantity of non-utilized byproducts (such as seed coats, pods, broken seeds, and wastewaters) that could be exploited as sources of ingredients and bioactive compounds in a circular economy. This review focuses on the incorporation of legume byproducts into foods when they are formulated as flours, protein/fiber or solid/liquid fractions, or biological extracts and uses an analytical approach to identify their nutritional, health-promoting, and techno-functional properties. Correlation-based network analysis of nutritional, technological, and sensory characteristics was used to explore the potential of legume byproducts in food products in a systematic manner. Flour is the most widely used legume-based food ingredient and is present at levels of 2%-30% in bakery products, but purified fractions and extracts should be investigated in more detail. Health beverages and vegan dressings with an extended shelf-life are promising applications thanks to the techno-functional features of legume byproducts (e.g., foaming and emulsifying behaviors) and the presence of polyphenols. A deeper exploration of eco-friendly processing techniques (e.g., fermentation and ohmic treatment) is necessary to improve the techno-functional properties of ingredients and the sensory characteristics of foods in a sustainable manner. The processing of legume byproducts combined with improved legume genetic resources could enhance the nutritional, functional, and technological properties of ingredients to ensure that legume-based foods achieve wider industrial and consumer acceptance.

Development and Validation of a New GC-FID Method for the Determination of Short and Medium Chain Free Fatty Acids in Wine.

A new analytical method for the determination of six volatile short and medium-chain fatty acids (acetic, propionic, isobutyric, isovaleric, hexanoic, and octanoic acids) through liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether, followed by GC-FID analysis, was developed and validated. The extraction conditions were optimized by evaluating the effect of the number of extractions (1 to 3) and the effect of the addition of salts (NaH2PO4, (NH4)2SO4, NaCl, (NH4)2SO4/NaH2PO4) to increase the concentration of the analytes in the ethyl ether phase. Results showed that a single extraction allows obtaining the highest sensitivity (due to the impossibility of evaporating the solvent to avoid losses of the analytes). The use of salting out agents, in particular, NaH2PO4, showed an important increase in the extraction extent, on average, 1.5 times higher as compared to the extraction performed without salt. The proposed method is rapid, requiring a total of 30 min for preparation and analysis, and it makes use of small amounts of sample (500 µL) and solvent (400 µL). The method was then applied to quantify the analytes in 5 white wines and 5 red wines, allowing to highlight some clear differences between red and white wines, with the red ones having a significantly higher amount of acetic acid (715.7 ± 142.3 mg/L in red wines and 351.5 ± 21.2 mg/L in white wines) and the white wines having a significantly higher amount of hexanoic and octanoic acid (6.1 ± 3.0 mg/L and 2.6 ± 0.8 mg/L, respectively, are the mean concentrations in white wines, and 4.7 ± 0.8 and 2.4 ± 0.4 mg/L, respectively, are the mean concentrations in red wines).

Bioactives and Technological Quality of Functional Biscuits Containing Flour and Liquid Extracts from Broccoli By-Products.

Broccoli by-products are an important source of health-promoting bioactive compounds, although they are generally underutilized. This study aimed to valorize non-compliant broccoli florets by transforming them into functional ingredients for biscuit formulation. A broccoli flour and three water/ethanol extracts (100:0, 75:25, 50:50; v/v) were obtained. The rheological properties and the content of bioactive compounds of the functional ingredients and biscuits were evaluated. The 50:50 hydroalcoholic extract was the richest in glucosinolates (9749 µg·g-1 DW); however, the addition of a small amount strongly affected dough workability. The enrichment with 10% broccoli flour resulted the best formulation in terms of workability and color compared to the other enriched biscuits. The food matrix also contributed to protecting bioactive compounds from thermal degradation, leading to the highest total glucosinolate (33 µg·g-1 DW), carotenoid (46 µg·g-1 DW), and phenol (1.9 mg GAE·g-1 DW) contents being present in the final biscuit. Therefore, broccoli flour is a promising ingredient for innovative healthy bakery goods. Hydroalcoholic extracts could be valuable ingredients for liquid or semi-solid food formulation.