Study of the impact of hulling on the cooking of pulses (lentils, chickpeas)

We would like to invite you to join our team at the Department for the Processing and Valorization of Oil-Protein Seeds (DTVG) based in Pessac (33). The DTVG's missions are: to help improve product quality (oils, cakes, other) by optimizing oilseed processing and testing new technologies; to optimize uses in traditional markets; to explore new outlets; and to meet consumer requirements (health safety, environmental footprint of products).

Context :

The marketing of ready-to-use pulses, such as shelled seeds (coral lentils), represents a major lever for encouraging consumption, thanks to their speed of cooking and great convenience for users. In this context, hulling appears to be a decisive stage: it influences not only cooking speed, but also the final texture of the product, as well as several nutritional parameters. In this context, Terres Inovia wishes to assess the impact of hulling on the suitability of lentils and chickpeas for cooking, in order to enhance the value of these products and identify the varieties best suited to this type of processing.

Duties and objectives of the position

• Compare the cooking properties of shelled and unshelled legumes (lentils, chickpeas).
• Characterize seed texture and composition of anti-nutritional factors at the end of cooking. Define and analyze the textural profile of cooked seeds for each variety.
• Assess the impact of genetic diversity and growing conditions on lentils from different French regions.
• Conduct technological (hulling and cooking) and analytical (texture analysis) trials. Literature review on the impact of hulling and the cooking suitability of pulses.
• Statistical processing of data and comparison of varieties/production areas.
• Report writing and reporting to the project team.

Profile required

• Bachelor's degree 3, Master's degree in Food / Process Engineering / Biochemistry
• Computer skills (spreadsheet, word processing)
• Notions in statistics and data processing
• Cross-disciplinary skills :
• Scientific and methodological rigor
• Ability to analyze and summarize
• Good writing skills
• Curiosity and initiative

Conditions and benefits

• 6-month internship
• internship allowance according to current scale
• luncheon vouchers