Chickpea aquafaba: a systematic review of the different processes for obtaining and their nutritional and technological characteristics

Aquafaba is the residual water from cooking chickpea in water. It has a high gelling ability, allowing it to create stable gels. However, those functional properties depend on the legume composition, genotype, cooking time, pressure, and temperature. This study aimed to evaluate the different processes for obtaining aquafaba and compare their nutritional composition and technological characteristics using a systematic review. The authors performed the systematic review by performing specific search strategies for Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, Lilacs, Google Scholar, and ProQuest. A total of 17 studies were analyzed. Of them, 17.64% (n = 3) used the wastewater from canned chickpeas, 17.64% (n = 3) compared the wastewater of canned chickpeas and dry grains, and 58.82% (n = 10) used dry chickpeas. Studies used different methods to analyze the protein content. The most used (n = 5) was the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The aquafaba presented carbohydrates at 2.03-2.59 g/100ml; protein at 0.0.8-2.8 g/100ml; and fat at 0.07-0.1 g/100ml. In general, preparing aquafaba followed: soaking (8-10 h at 4 °C-1 chickpea: 4 water), pressure cooking (30 min-2 chickpea: 3 water), and refrigerating (24h/4 °C). In general, the results showed the following steps to prepare aquafaba: soaking for 8-10 h at 4 °C at the proportion of 1:4 (chickpea:water), pressure cooking for 30 min in the proportion of 2:3 (chickpea: water), and refrigerating 24 h/4 °C. These procedures in a homemade aquafaba presented the best results, considering foam development and higher stability. The aquafaba from canned chickpeas has a higher foam-ability and lower emulsion properties than homemade cooking aquafaba.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05920-y.