Effect of soaking and microwave pre-treatment of cowpea seeds on proximate composition, cooking quality and anti-nutritional factors

Lengthy cooking times and the presence of anti-nutrients are factors contributing to the poor exploitation of the high protein content in cowpea seeds. This study was carried out to determine the effect of soaking and microwave energy pre-treatments on the cooking time, anti-nutritional factors and proximate composition of cowpea seeds. Seeds were soaked (6 h) and exposed to microwaves for 2 and 5 min followed by oven-drying (48 ± 2 o C) to obtain a uniform moisture content in the seeds prior to cooking. Soaking followed by 5 min microwave application reduced cooking time by 32% and 45.5% respectively. Soaking alone and in combination with microwave application resulted in significant (p0.05) affected by the microwave treatments, but were affected significantly (