چكيده لاتين :
The aim of this study was to design and develop an electronic device, which allows the follow up of the complete cooking kinetic of bean and could be used to efficiently measure hard to cock (HTC). A prototype device composed of a modified Mattson bean cooker, interfaced with a computer via displacement sensors and a 4-channel, 8 bits, 1 Hz data acquisition module built around the MIC 640 was achieved. Cooking data obtained with this device shown that the beginning and the end of the cooking period separated a transition region portraying an exponential rise characterized by a time constant, which varies for freshly harvested beans (3 sec) as opposed to that of long stored beans (10 sec). This time constant, identified and measured for the first time, could be used to elaborate an index of the degree of hardening that has taken place in a given sample of beans.
