Products and Pretein Properties

The family Leguminosae includes more than 12,000 species in about 500 genera that are widely d.L<:tributed from the tropics to the arctic regions. Although abundant in the temperate zones, legumes are especially numerous in the tropics. Ivlan has cultivated some members of this family since remote antiquity and few families of dicotyledons are of greater importance than the legumes. Nonetheless, only a few legumes are of economic significance either as feeds or foods. Clovers, vetches, and alfalfa are among our most prominent forage crops, but of even more importance are peas, beans, lentils, peanuts, and soybeans that are grown as food plants. Peas, beans, and lentils a.:te consumed directly as foods in many parts of the world and are important sources of dietary protein in countries where animal proteins are scarce and expensive or are not consumed for religious or cultural reasons. Few of these legumes are processed industrially to concentrate the protein fraction. In Thailand, the mung bean (Phaseo/us aureus) is processed for its starch for conversion into a spaghetti-like "bean thread" which is transparent rather than opaque \vhen cooked. The protein-rich residue has been used to prepare a textmed product. In England, the broad bean (Vida faba) has been fractionated on a pilot scale into