The high protein content of legumes, which ranges between 19 and 36%, makes this family the main source of vegetable protein for the human species.
These are data from the report prepared by the Spanish central administration in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition, AECOSAN.
The versatility of legumes for food preparations in the food industry, added to their great nutritional potential, both in protein intake and in improving protein digestibility; their high fiber content, and their organoleptic qualities, make dehydrated legumes and their respective flours, complete ingredients for healthy and conscious nutrition in the 21st century. Every day more and more men and women committed to a healthier and more respectful way of eating.
Molendum Ingredients, a subsidiary of the Dacsa group, offers the food industry its factory of natural wholemeal legume flours, obtained by milling different grains in order to inactivate lipase, the enzyme responsible for rancidity when the whole grain is milled.
Among others, Molendum offers the food industry flours obtained by milling chickpea, Castilian and red lentils, white, red or pinto beans and green peas. All these flours are becoming essential ingredients for the production of products compatible with vegetarian and vegan diets, with high protein value, excellent nutritional value and antioxidant activity.
Because these flours, in addition to being gluten-free, which positions them as nutritional allies for people with celiac disease, are especially healthy because of their mineral content. Specifically, chickpea flour is rich in iron and calcium and lentil flour stands out in potassium and phosphorus, as well as pea flour, which also has high magnesium values.
And all of them can be manufactured and processed by Molendum, alone or as gluten-free flour blends to improve the absorption of nutrients on their own and the balance of amino acids, such as lysine and methionine.
Both amino acids are essential, i.e., they cannot be synthesized by the body on its own but must be obtained through food intake and, in addition, each plays a leading role in essential functions such as metabolism, in the case of methionine, or protein synthesis, in the case of lysine.
Legume flours are playing a leading role in the diet of the third decade of our century, both for their adaptability for the manufacture of high nutritional quality products adapted to specific diets, such as vegetarian, vegan or celiac diets, and for their versatility to meet the expectations of lovers of culinary novelties.
In a context of high standards, it is a fact that pulse flours are gaining popularity and opening the doors of the food industry to an endless number of combinations whose success is practically guaranteed.
On their own recognized merits, pulse flours are becoming a paradigm of healthy, complete, and sustainable food.
