Physical, chemical and nutritional characteristics of premature-processed and matured green legumes.

Premature green legumes are good sources of nutraceuticals and antioxidants and are consumed as snacks as well as vegetables. They are seasonal and have limited shelf-life. Efforts are provided to prepare shelf-stable green legumes to extend their availability throughout the year. Green legumes from chick pea or Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum) and field bean (Dolichos lablab) have been processed to enhance their shelf-life, and determined their nutritional, physico-chemical and nutraceutical qualities. The shelf stable green legumes (SSGL) show higher water absorption capacity compared to matured dry legumes (MDL). The total colour change in the processed/dried SSGL and MDL samples increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) compared to the freshly harvested green samples. The carotenoid content of Bengal gram and field bean SSGLs are 8.0 and 3.2 mg/100 g, and chlorophyll contents are 12.5 and 0.5 mg/100 g, respectively, which are in negligible quantities in matured legumes; the corresponding polyphenol contents are 197.8 and 153.1 mg/100 g. These results indicate that SSGLs possess potential antioxidant activity.