Cooked bean product having reduced solids content and improved viscosity

Abstract

The present invention provides compositions which have reduced amounts of solids for preparing cooked leguminous food products. During preparation of the food products, the compositions have a hot viscosity sufficiently low enough to facilitate mechanical pumping and other processing of the compositions. The compositions include a starch component in an amount effective for providing the hot viscosity of the compositions as well as a final viscosity of the cooked leguminous food product such that the food product has an enhanced consistency and texture. The compositions are prepared by processing legumes for cooking, blending the starch component and water with the legumes to provide a composition having a predetermined amount of legumes, heating the composition to provide a cooked legume composition, and processing the composition further to provide a containerized cooked food product. The compositions are particularly suited for preparation of a cooked refried bean product.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.