The objective of the research was to evaluate the effect of sowing periods on cooking quality of common bean grains of the 'Pérola' cultivar when stored under different temperatures, moisture content and storage times. A completely randomized design was applied, with three replications. The treatments were combinations of three sowing periods (10/15/2003, 10/29/2003 and 11/21/2003), three storage environment (environment temperature; 12°C of air temperature and 45-50% of moisture content; and 0.5°C of air temperature and 80% of moisture content); and three storage times (0, 3 and 6 months). The percentage of normal and hard grains was influenced by storage environment and storage time. The highest percentage of hard grains was verified in the three sowing period. The water imbibition was decreased after six months of the storage. The cooking time was not varied to storage time when sowings were made in 10/15/2003 and 10/29/2003. Highest time to water uptake and cooking can be necessary in function of the quality grain in moment harvesting or of the temperature and content moisture during storage.
Phaseolus vulgaris L.; water uptake; cooking time; hardshell grains; storage environment
