Puy lentil
Lens culinaris · Legume
Top 10 pairings
The Puy lentil (lentille verte du Puy) is a small, dark slate-green French green lentil grown on the volcanic plateau around Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne, the first dried vegetable to earn a French AOC and a protected European designation. Prized by cooks for holding its shape and a firm, almost "al dente" bite, it carries a distinctive peppery, mineral, faintly nutty flavour that sets it apart from larger, softer green lentils.
Picking a good onedrag
Whole, dry and evenly colouredBroken, dusty, damp or musty
Ordinary bagEverydayFor dal, soup or salad, simmer until tender all the way through. Raw or half-cooked lentils are indigestible.
The seed itselfMostly whole, a few chipped coats
Shake of the bagPour freely, light dust on fingers
Smell in the bagAlmost nothing, plain and papery
These cues are Lentil's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.