lentil

lentil, (Lens culinaris), small annual legume of the pea family (Fabaceae) and its edible seed. Lentils are widely cultivated throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa but are little grown in the Western Hemisphere. The seeds are used chiefly in soups and stews, and the herbage is used as fodder in some places. Lentils are a good source of protein, dietary fibre, vitamin B, iron, and phosphorus.

Physical description

The plant varies from 15 to 45 cm (6 to 18 inches) in height and has many long ascending branches. The compound leaves are alternate, with six pairs of oblong-linear leaflets about 15 mm (0.5 inch) long and ending in a spine. Two to four pale blue flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves in June or early July. The small pods are broadly oblong and slightly inflated and contain two seeds the shape of a doubly convex lens and about 4–6 mm (0.17–0.24 inch) in diameter. There are many cultivated varieties of the plant, differing in size, hairiness, and colour of the leaves, flowers, and seeds. The seeds may be more or less compressed in shape and can be white, yellow, orange, tan, green, gray, or dark brown in colour; they are also sometimes mottled or speckled.

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History and cultivation

Lentils are one of the most ancient of cultivated foods and were likely domesticated in the Near East. The lentil has been found in the lake dwellings of St. Peter’s Island, Lake Biel, Switzerland, dating from the Bronze Age. The red pottage of lentils for which the Biblical Esau sold his birthright (Genesis 25:30–34) probably was made from the red Egyptian lentil. Lentils are cultivated in one or another variety in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe along the Mediterranean coast and as far north as Germany, the Netherlands, and France. In Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries, the parched seeds are widely sold in shops and are esteemed the best food to carry on long journeys.