Last week, when my Cooking Buddy, jkotting and I posted lentil recipes within seconds of each other, I got curious about this legume I’ve always loved to eat, but outside of the different varieties, knew very little about. Here’s what my research revealed.

“Lentils (Lens esculenta) have been found in archaeological sites in northeastern Iraq dating from 6750 B.C.E., in Turkish sites from 5500 B.C.E., and in Egyptian tombs from before 1500 B.C.E. Ancient Sumerian documents record their cultivation in Babylon by 800 B.C.E., but by then lentils had probably already spread well north into European lands and east into the Indian subcontinent. Lentils were certainly a staple in the cuisine of peoples of the Bible: Jacob served them to his brother Esau (Genesis 25:31), and Ezekiel made a bread with lentils (Ezekiel 4:9). The ancient Greeks and Romans considered lentils a food of the poor, though some wealthy Greeks and Romans did serve lentils at their meals, perhaps by either choice or necessity. In Europe, lentils were avoided during medieval times and did not come back into fashion until the 17th or 18th century C.E. Now they are consumed worldwide; particularly important in the Middle East, India and Africa.” (1)

“The lentil is probably the oldest cultivated legume, contemporaneous with wheat and barley and often growing alongside these grasses. The Latin word for lentil, lens, gives us our word for a lentil-shaped, or doubly convex, piece of glass (the coinage dates from the 17th century). Lentils contain low levels of antinutritional factors and cook quickly.” (2)

“The Lentil or daal or pulse (Lens culinaris) is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds and is about 15 inches tall. The seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. At 26%, lentils have the highest protein level in any plant after soybeans and hemp. Lentils also contain dietary fiber, Folate, Vitamin B1, and minerals. Red (or pink) lentils contain a lower concentration of fiber than green lentils (11% rather than 31%). Lentils are one of the best vegetable sources of iron (7.5 mg in 3.5 ounces), thus an important part of a vegetarian diet and useful for preventing iron deficiency.”
“Lentils are relatively tolerant to drought and are grown throughout the world. About half the worldwide production is from India; most of which is consumed in the domestic market. Canada is the largest export producer in the world and Saskatchewan is the most important producing region. The Palouse Region of Eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle, with its commercial center at Moscow, Idaho, constitute the most important producing region in the U.S. Lentil production for the calendar year 2007: 3.874 million metric tonnes (mostly from India, Turkey and Canada) while the U.S. produced 154.5 thousand metric tonnes, primarily from North Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho.” (3)

The Twentieth Annual National Lentil Festival (http://www.lentilfest.com) was held in Pullman, Washington, August 22 and 23, 2008

(1) Cooking With the Bible – Biblical Food, Feasts & Lore by Anthony F. Chiffolo & Rayner W. Hesse, Jr., Greenwood Press © 2006
(2) On Food and Cooking, the Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee, Scribner © 2004
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil

 

The 2006 kitchen craze was a perfect, “boiled” omelet in a ZIPLOC® baggie. The maker, S.C. Johnson & Son cautioned then that their product was not safe at boiling temperature and begins to soften at “approximately 195 degrees F. (1)  Add cheese or sugary sauces and temperatures will rise enough to quickly melt the plastic dispersing it into the food.  Enter baggies’ 2008 sibling Zip’N Steam®.  S.C. Johnson & Son says create express meals - perfectly steamed veggies or  fish (as seen on TV’s The Biggest Loser) in your microwave - but as in 2006, still warns: never boil food in Zip’N Steam® plastic bags on the stove top or use high fat or sugar ingredients; even in the microwave. With our need to get meals on the table fast, these “almost” sous vide techniques along with true sous vide is on the rise both at home and in restaurants.  “Sous vide (to heat vacuum-packed food for long periods in temperature controlled water for increased flavor and tenderness) was invented in France in the 1970s as a method for cooking foie gras, and is in wide use in European restaurants, hotels, and food-service companies, as well as, on airlines and passenger trains.  It has been slower to catch on in the U.S. partly because of consumer’s perception that it is ‘boil-in-the-bag’ food, and partly because health authorities have been wary.  Vacuum- sealed food is susceptible to anaerobic strains of bacteria that thrive in an oxygen-free environment and may cause botulism. Food-science writer, Harold McGee deems this technique ‘one of the most important culinary innovations of modern times.’”(2) I’m skeptical of plastic migration to the food. Home-version sous vide gadgets in stores now! 

(1) Ziploc Omelets May Be Toxic, www.about.com

(2) Trying Sous Vide At Home by Katy McLaughlin, The Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2008