Expansion in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seed during soaking and cooking

The linear and volumetric expansion of chickpea seeds during water absorption at 20, 30, 50, 70, 85 and 100 degrees C was studied. Length, width and thickness of chickpea seeds linearly increased with the increase in moisture content at all temperatures studied, where the greatest increase was found in length. Two different mathematical approaches were used for the determination of the expansion coefficients. The plots of the both linear and volumetric expansion coefficients versus temperature exhibited two linear lines, the first one was through 20, 30 and 50 degrees C and the second one was trough 70, 85 and 100 degrees C. The crossing point (58 degrees C) of these lines was very close to the gelatinisation temperature (60 degrees C) of chickpea starch.