Consumption of dry beans is low in the U.S. and the genetic improvement of end-use quality traits of dry beans and the development of new uses for beans offer potential opportunities to increase consumption. This research aimed to 1) characterize a yellow bean diversity panel for seed coat color and cooking time, 2) investigate the G×E and inheritance of seed coat color and cooking time of the diversity panel via genome-wide association (GWA), 3) evaluate the suitability of MI-bred bean varieties for sweet paste qualities, and 4) inform bean breeders of the food industry’s needs for bean flour. A Yellow Bean Collection with 295 lines grown in MI and NE were evaluated for seed coat color, post-harvest darkening, and cooking time. Machine-learning was used to develop a procedure to automatically exclude hilum and corona areas in bean images and extract L*a*b* color values from seed coat. Color values, post-harvest darkening, hilum, and corona colors mapped to the ground factor P gene. Cooking time evaluation identified 20 lines that cooked within 20 min in MI and five lines that cooked within 31 min in higher-altitude NE. GWA identified a polygalacturonase gene as a candidate gene for cooking time. G×E was significant for seed coat color and cooking time, and MI-grown seeds were generally darker and faster-cooking than NE-grown. Six white bean varieties and one cranberry genotype were evaluated for sweet bean paste qualities: paste yield, color, stickiness, and flavor. Large-seeded white varieties performed similar or higher for many of the quality traits than Hime, an industry standard, showing their potential as a novel food application in the U.S. An electronic survey was conducted targeting U.S. food industry professionals who use pulse and/or wheat flour. Seventy-five valid responses were collected, and flavor and functionality rather than lectins or gluten contamination were the most important challenges in utilizing bean flour. These studies will be useful in selecting germplasm for favorable qualities to consumers such as bright yellow color, non-darkening after storage, fast cooking time, bean paste qualities, and bean flour attributes.
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