Effects of Mung Bean Thermal Pretreatment on the Eating Quality and in Vitro Digestibility of Mung Bean‐Oat Dried Noodles

In this study, mung beans were processed using four distinct thermal treatments: roasting, heat moisture treatment (HMT), microwave treatment (MW), and stir-frying treatment. The effects of these thermally treated mung beans on the quality of mung bean-oat dried noodles were investigated by evaluating their cooking quality, textural properties, and in vitro digestive characteristics. All four heat treatments improved the quality of mung bean-oat dried noodles to varying degrees. Among these, noodles prepared from hydrothermally treated (HMT) mung beans exhibited the best overall performance. Specifically, their eGI decreased from 60.75 in the control group to 54.98, together with the optimal thermal behavior, the strongest intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions, and a more ordered molecular arrangement of starch-protein complexes. However, hydrothermal treatment also resulted in an increased breakage rate of the noodles. In addition, the noodles prepared by microwave treatment (MW) exhibited excellent overall quality, with the breakage rate reduced from 2.22% in the control group to 0.00%, and had the most desirable textural properties among all the treatments. Thermal processing of mung beans is an effective approach to enhance the quality of mung bean-oat dried noodles. Among the four tested treatments, HMT and MW are the most promising options: HMT demonstrates advantages in optimizing digestion resistance and the molecular structure of noodles, while MW excels in reducing the noodle breakage rate and improving textural characteristics.