Effects of High Pressure Processing on Common Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.): Cotyledon Structure, Starch Characteristics, and Phytates and Tannins Contents

High pressure processing (HPP) is an emerging technology capable of promoting structural changes in food. This work studies the effect of HPP at room temperature (50 MPa/1 or 10 min and 600 MPa/1 min) on the cotyledon structure, starch characteristics, tannins, and phytates of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The results show that all process conditions promote a partial disruption of the bean parenchymal cells, minor reduction in birefringence under polarized light microscopy and, for samples processed at 600 MPa for 1 min, a small reduction in the crystallinity intensity is observed. Moreover, the processes are able to reduce up to 40% of the tannin content but cause no loss of phytates. Thus, HPP can be used as a unit operation to improve the nutritional value of common beans and to enhance the exposure of starch granules, which possibly increases bean susceptibility to hydration/dehydration/cooking processes, allowing the production of easy-to-cook beans.