Tempeh flour from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) nutritional and physicochemical properties

The effects of solid state fermentation (SSF) on physicochemical and nutritional properties of chickpea flour were studied. Fermented (tempeh) flour showed higher particle size index, gelatinization temperature, dispersability and resistant starch content, and lower gelatinization enthalpy and water solubility than unfermented flour. SSF increased the content of the essential amino acids (EAA) Ile, total sulphur (Met + Cys), total aromatic (Phe + Tyr), and Thr in 37, 41, 107, and 39 g kg−1 protein, respectively; Trp content decreased 8 g kg−1 protein. Total sulphur (EAA score = 0.87) was limiting in unfermented flour and Trp (0.93) in tempeh flour. SSP improved the in vitro and true protein digestibility (72.2–83.2% and 83.7–88.8%, respectively), protein efficiency ratio (PER, 1.59–2.31), cPER (1.54–2.21), and corrected protein digestibility (0.73–0.89). Chickpea tempeh flour may be considered for the fortification of widely consumed legume-based food products.