[Preferential habits of consumers of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Mexico]. / Hábitos preferenciales de los consumidores de frijol común (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) en México.

A detailed knowledge of the consumer's preferences for the different classes of common bean is useful to define objectives in bean breeding and quality projects in a given region or country and it is also a valuable tool to design marketing strategies. The present work consisted on the application of a survey to 1514 common bean consumers in 14 states of Mexico. To facilitate the interpretation of the results the country was divided in four regions: North East, North West, Center and South. In the North West region, 98% of the surveyed individuals eat the "Azufrado" types (sulphur yellow); in the North East, 70% of the consumers prefer "pinto" (beige with brown mottles) and "Bayo" (cream) types; in the South, 90% of the consumers prefer the "Black" type; and in the Center of the country, all commercial classes are consumed. Within a commercial class, specific characteristics are demanded. For instance, in the black type, small and opaque seeds are preferred while in the "Flor de mayo" (Beige with pink mottles) type medium to large seeds having bright seed coat are preferred. The main characteristics utilized by consumers to select a given bean type are cooking time and flavor. It was observed that preferential classes are well established among the consumers since 70% responded that they would not change the preferred class even if the alternative class was sold to a lower price. Consumers do not soak the beans, because it changes the flavor and the aspect of the cooked beans and they do not add salt at the beginning of the cooking process due to the same reason. Organoleptic studies conducted in the laboratory confirmed that soaking of beans or addition of salts in the soaking water or at the beginning of the cooking process negatively affected acceptability of cooked beans by panelists. In this paper aspects related to ways of processing and consuming common beans as well as marketing aspects are discussed.

[Effect of growing location on sensory properties and nutritional characteristics of black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)]. / Efecto de la localidad de siembra sobre la aceptacion sensorial y otras caracteristicas nutricionales y de calidad del grano en frijol comun (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).

The present research consisted of an evaluation of five genotypes harvested from six growing locations. Variables of sensory properties, cooking quality and nutritional characteristics were determined. Genotype with longer cooking time was BV which also present hard shell. Those of shorter cooking time were FMB and PV. In Calera frosting during pod filling, drastically reduced cooking time, sensory properties and tannins. Taking this location off, the analysis show little effect of genotype or growing location in regard to determined properties. The genotypes with lower content of tannins were PV and BV. The content of lectins were in general low for all samples and the diferences between genotypes were not statistically significant (p<0.05) but they did for growing location.