Patent ID: 7022370

Claim:
A method for preparing an improved whole soybean product for use in food applications, said method comprising: (1) heating an aqueous solution containing a water soluble salt to provide a heated solution, wherein the water soluble salt is effective for deactivating protease inhibitors and lipoxygenase and removing oligosaccharides from soybeans to a temperature effective to produce said deactivation and removal; (2) mixing dehulled, whole soybeans with the heated solution to form a mixture; (3) heating the mixture to a temperature and for a time effective to deactivate protease inhibitors and lipoxygenase and remove oligosaccharides from the dehulled, whole soybeans; (4) removing the aqueous solution from the mixture after heating step (3) to provide the improved whole soybean product; and (5) collecting the improved whole soybean product.