Lentilles vertes and puy (green) lentils

puddy

thanks, ive never seen brown lentils in the shops? neither dried nor canned

LondonDreamer

puddy wrote: »

thanks, ive never seen brown lentils in the shops? neither dried nor canned

From what I can make out, what we call green lentils are brown lentils in the US (as both are also known as continental lentils, as mentioned above) where what they call green lentils are puy lentils here.

ETA: BBC Food glossary lists them separately, but says they're very similar - with brown being slightly stronger in taste than green. I would use the green lentils. Lentils are pretty interchangeable anyway.

cha97michelle

I spotted some brown lentils in Mr T last shop and got them. They were with all the other dried pulses. I need to have a go at using them up in something.

As far as i can tell, red go mushy and brown and green ones hold their shape better.

rosie383

If you really want brown lentils, you can get them in virtually any Asian grocers.

want2bmortgage3

i was in tesco looking for green lentils for a veggie recipe, but could only find lentilles vertes, are these the same thing???

Penelope_Penguin

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

i was in tesco looking for green lentils for a veggie recipe, but could only find lentilles vertes, are these the same thing???

Yep - vert(e) is French for green

thepenniescount

That's funny were you in the Gallows Corner one? I heard someone ask that same question in there not long ago to the man marking down the bread.......

want2bmortgage3

thank you , i just expected to see "green lentils" same as the red ones, thought they might be a special type or something!

want2bmortgage3

on the subject of lentils, when you boil them (red ones this time) do you drink the liquid or just let it drain away? i tasted it and was really nice as a drink..

pumpkinlife

I have a pack of green lentils, which are large (as lentils go) light greeny-gold coloured flatish discs that cook in about 20 minutes. My bag of lentilles vertes are about half the size, speckled dark green and pinky-grey and take 45 minutes to cook. The latter are a little more expensive but taste a bit nuttier and richer, like a puy lentil. It shouldn't make much of a difference though apart from the cooking times.

I drain the liquid unless I am making soup, in which case I just skim off the starchy foam and boil all the ingredients up together.