eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Food Science and Technology 2333-4835 2016-09-18 4 6 168 172 10.12691/ajfst-4-6-2 AJFST2016462 article Oluwatosin J. Oginni ojoginni@mix.wvu.edu 1 Babatunde S. Ogunsina 2 Gbenga A. Olatunde 3 Kehinde F. Jaiyeoba 4 School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown WV, USA Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA Department of Agricultural Science, Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, Nigeria Prior to consumption, most human foods are subjected to certain processing techniques such as soaking, roasting, parboiling and cooking, which causes important changes in their physical and hydration properties. Several physical and hydration properties were evaluated as function of soaking time as well as cooking methods. Standard methods were followed to investigate changes in the axial dimensions, shape indices, hydration and swelling capacity of Moringa oleifera kernels that were soaked in distilled water for 2, 4 and 6 h and subjected to cooking by conventional and microwave methods. For conventional and microwave cooking, minimum cooking time reduced from 46 to 44.3 min and from 25 to 23 min, respectively. The hydration capacity of the cooked kernels (g/kernel) decreased from 0.16 to 0.15 (conventional cooking); whereas it increased from 0.10 to 0.14 (microwave cooking). The axial dimension of kernels that were soaked for 2, 4 and 6 h and cooked were found to be 7.9 and 7.48 mm, 7.94 and 7.18 mm, 8.12 and 7.13 mm for length; 8.48 and 7.61 mm, 8.11 and 7.26 mm, 8.14 and 7.26 mm for width and 8.09 and 7.12 mm, 7.64 and 7.14 mm, 7.77 and 7.06 mm for thickness, respectively. Understanding the properties of specific food products with respect to different methods of processing is vital to their overall utilization. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajfst/4/6/2/ajfst-4-6-2.pdf Moringa physical properties hydration properties soaking cooking