EVALUATION OF COOKING TIMES OF EGYPTIAN AND INTRODUCED COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUICULATA) GENOTYPES UNDER DIFFERENT COOKING CONDITIONS

Cooking times of fourteen Egyptian and introduced cowpea genotypes were evaluated under different cooking conditions. Soaking treatments manifested shorter time than unsoaked treatments. Adding sodium bicarbonate or baking powder to soaking and cooking solutions gave more shorter cooking time. Microwaves treatment gave the shortest cooking time than all other treatments and conserved as a new approach. All studied cowpea genotypes and all cooking treatments exhibited significant variations. The blacked colored seeds needed shorter cooking time than the red seeds, while round or small seeds needed longer time to complete cooking. The observed significant differences among the genotypes were reflected to genotypic and phenotypic variations and consequently to high broad sense heritability estimates and to high values of genetic advances. Such estimates suggested the ability to achieve possible improvement in cooking time of cowpea seeds which might eventually reflect on their cooking quality.