Facing the Texture Challenge of Pulses From a Cell Wall Point of View: Science, Strategies, and Perspectives

The full benefit of pulses, an economic, highly nutritional, and environment-friendly ingredient, can be greatly hampered by the hard texture (poor cooking quality) of the beans, resulting in long preparation time, energy waste, reduced nutritional value, and low consumer acceptability. This texture challenge thus needs to be well addressed towards optimal and maximized utilization of pulses. Among multiple influencing factors, the cooking texture of pulses is largely related to the cotyledon cell wall microstructure, constructed by cell wall polysaccharides and the interactions therein. Pectin solubilization during cooking of beans dictates the ease of cell separation, thus softening of the texture. Biochemical changes in cell wall (pectin) along the production chain result in texture changes of pulses. Therefore, research towards understanding the cell wall structure–texture relations should particularly focus on structural properties of pectin polysaccharides to better control the texture evolution of pulses during processing. Moreover, development of different pretreatments (or their combinations) aiming at high-efficiency pulse processing from a perspective of cell wall structural modification is needed. This review comprehensively summarizes the most recent advances in biochemical changes in cell wall properties related to texture evolution during postharvest storage, soaking, and cooking of pulses. Trends in strategies aiming to modulate bean texture along the production chain are also discussed, and future perspectives are presented. The outcome of this article can help to pave the way for highly efficient industrial pulse production meeting customer demands for future sustainable food products.