Lentil

Lentils are small pulses that come in a variety of types and colours. They may have been the first vegetable ever cultivated, as there were references to them in Mesopotamia 7,000 years ago. Throughout history they have been a staple diet of the poor, the Biblical ‘mess of pottage’, though they are now widely appreciated.

Certain varieties, like the tiny green French lentille de Puy, are both fashionable and relatively expensive. Lentils feature heavily in the cooking of the Middle East and India, but also play an important part in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian regional cooking.