Aroma chemistry and consumer acceptance of navy bean powder as prepared by commercial or extrusion processing

Bean powder has been gaining in popularity among consumers due to its reported health benefits including reduced risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Extruded Navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) powder can be considered as a cost-effective alternative to resource intensive traditional methods of processing. The objectives of the study presented in this manuscript were 1) to profile the volatile compounds derived from extruded and commercial Navy bean powders using headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; 2) to determine which of the volatile compounds are odor-active with gas chromatography-olfactometry; and 3) to investigate consumer acceptance of products formulated with extruded or commercial bean powder. The odor-activity was highest from aldehydes in the extruded and commercial samples, representing 55% and 47.5% of the total response, respectively. Commercial bean powder had approximately 12.5 times more peak area from aldehydes. Furthermore, the commercial powder contained 20 times more hexanal than the extruded sample. Aliphatic aldehydes are most often formed during the degradation of unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic, which are the primary fatty acids found in Navy bean. This finding indicates that the commercial powder may have undergone severe lipid oxidation prior to the experiment. Consumer acceptance data showed a significant preference for baked Navy bean crackers made with the extruded bean powder over the crackers made with the commercial bean powder.