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LENTIL

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 430 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LENTIL , the See also:

seed of See also:Lens esculenta (also known as Ervum Lens), a small See also:annual of the See also:vetch tribe. The plant varies from 6 to 18 in. in height, and has many See also:long ascending branches. The leaves are alternate, with six pairs of oblong-linear, obtuse, mucronate leaflets. The See also:flowers, two to four in number, are of a See also:pale See also:blue See also:colour, and are See also:borne in the axils of the leaves, on a slender footstalk nearly equalling the leaves in length; they are produced in See also:June or See also:early in See also:July. The pods are about i in. long, broadly oblong, slightly inflated, and contain two seeds, which are of the shape of a doubly See also:convex lens, and about a in. in See also:diameter. There are several cultivated varieties of the plant, differing in See also:size, hairiness and colour of the leaves, flowers and seeds. The last may be more or less compressed in shape, and in colour may vary from yellow or See also:grey to dark See also:brown; they are also sometimes mottled or speckled. In See also:English See also:commerce two kinds of lentils are principally met with, See also:French and See also:Egyptian. The former are usually sold entire, and are of an ash-grey colour externally and of a yellow tint within; the latter are usually sold like split peas, without the seed coat, and consist of the reddish-yellow cotyledons, which are smaller and rounder than those of the French lentil; the seed coat when See also:present is of a dark brown colour. Considerable quantities of lentils are also imported into the See also:United States. The native See also:country of the lentil is not known. It was probably one of the first See also:plants brought under cultivation by mankind; lentils have been found in the See also:lake dwellings of St See also:Peter's See also:Island, Lake of See also:Bienne, which are of the See also:Bronze See also:age.

The name `adas (Heb. ell') appears to be an See also:

original Semitic word, and the red pottage of lentils for which See also:Esau sold his birthright (Gen. See also:xxv. 34) was apparently made from the red Egyptian lentil. This lentil is cultivated in one or other variety in See also:India, See also:Persia, See also:Syria, See also:Egypt, See also:Nubia and See also:North See also:Africa, and in See also:Europe, along the See also:coast of the Mediterranean, and as far north as See also:Germany, See also:Holland and See also:France. In Egypt, Syria and other Eastern countries the parched seeds are exposed for See also:sale in shops, and esteemed the best See also:food to carry on long journeys. Lentils See also:form a See also:chief ingredient in the See also:Spanish puchero, and are used in a similar way in France and other countries. For this purpose they are usually sold in the shelled See also:state. The reddish variety of the lentil (lentillon d'hiver) is the See also:kind most esteemed in See also:Paris on See also:account of the See also:superior flavour of its smaller seeds. It is sown in autumn either with a cereal See also:crop or alone, and is cultivated chiefly in the north and See also:east of France. The large or See also:common variety, lentille large blonde, cultivated in See also:Lorraine and at Gallardon (See also:Eure-et-Loir), and largely in Germany, is the most productive, but is less esteemed. This kind has very small whitish flowers, two or rarely three on a footstalk, and the pods are generally one-seeded, the seeds being of a whitish or cream colour, about a of an See also:inch broad and B in. thick. A single plant produces from See also:loo to 150 pods, which are flattened, about ; in. long and # in. broad. Another variety, with seeds similar in form and colour to the last, but of much smaller size, is known as the lentillon de See also:Mars.

It is sown in See also:

spring. This variety and the lentille large are both sometimes called the lentille a la reine. A small variety, lentille verte du See also:Puy, cultivated chiefly in the departments of Haute See also:Loire and See also:Cantal, is also grown as a See also:vegetable and for See also:forage. The Egyptian lentil was introduced into See also:Britain in 182o. It has blue flowers. Another See also:species of lentil, Ervum monanthos, is grown in France about See also:Orleans and elsewhere under the name of jarosse and jarande. It is, according to Vilmorin, one of the best kinds of See also:green food to grow on a poor dry sandy See also:soil; on calcareous soil it does not succeed sowell. It is usually sown in autumn with a little See also:rye or See also:winter oats, at the See also:rate of a hectolitre to a hectare. The lentil prefers a See also:light warm sandy soil; on See also:rich See also:land it runs to See also:leaf and produces but few pods. The seeds are sown in See also:March or See also:April or early in May, according to the See also:climate of the country, as they cannot endure See also:night frosts. If for See also:fodder they are sown broad-See also:cast, but in drills if the ripe seeds are required. The pods are gathered in See also:August or See also:September, as soon as they begin to turn brown—the plants being pulled up like See also:flax while the foliage is still green, and on a dry See also:day lest the pods split in drying and loss of seed takes See also:place.

Lentils keep best in the husk so far as flavour is concerned, and will keep See also:

good in this way for two years either for See also:sowing or for food. An See also:acre of ground yields on an See also:average about II cwt. of seed and 30 cwt. of See also:straw. The amount and See also:character of the See also:mineral See also:matter requisite in the soil may be judged from the See also:analysis of the ash, which in the seeds has as its chief ingredients—potash 34'6% soda 9.5, See also:lime 6.3, phosphoric See also:acid 36.2, chloride of See also:sodium 7.6, while in the straw the percentages are—potash Io•8, lime 52.3, See also:silica 17.6, phosphoric acid 12.3, chloride of sodium 2.1. Lentils have attracted considerable See also:notice among vegetarians as a food material, especially for soup. A See also:Hindu See also:proverb says, " See also:Rice is good, but lentils are my See also:life." The husk of the seed is indigestible, and to See also:cook lentils properly requires at least two and a See also:half See also:hours, but they are richer in nutritious matter than almost any other kind of See also:pulse, containing, according to Payen's analysis, 25.2 % of nitrogenous matter (legumin), 56% of See also:starch and 2.6% of fatty matter. See also:Fresenius's analysis differs in giving only 35 % of starch ; Einhoff gives 32.81 of starch and 37.82% of nitrogenous matter. Lentils are more properly the food of the poor in all countries where they are grown, and have often been spurned when better food could be obtained, hence the proverb Dives factus jam desiit gaudere lente. The seeds are said to be good for pigeons, or mixed in a ground state with potatoes or See also:barley for fattening pigs. The herbage is highly esteemed as green food for suckling ewes and all kinds of See also:cattle (being said to increase the yield of See also:milk), also for calves and See also:lambs. See also:Haller says that lentils are so flatulent as to kill horses. They were also believed to be the cause of severe scrofulous disorders common in Egypt. This See also:bad reputation may possibly be due to the substitution of the seeds of the See also:bitter vetch or tare lentil, Ervum Ervilia, a plant which closely resembles the true lentil in height, See also:habit, See also:flower and pod, but whose seeds are without doubt possessed of deleterious properties—producing weakness or even See also:paralysis of the extremities in horses which have partaken of them.

The poisonous principle seems to reside chiefly in the bitter seed coat, and' can apparently be removed by steeping in See also:

water, since See also:Gerard, speaking of the " bitter vetch " (E. Ervilia), says " kine in See also:Asia and in most other countries do eat thereof, being made sweet by steeping in water." The seed of E. Ervilia is about the same size and almost exactly of the same reddish-brown colour as that of the Egyptian lentil, and when the seed coat is removed they are both of the same See also:orange red See also:hue, but the former is not so See also:bright as the latter. The shape is the best means of distinguishing the two seeds, that of E. Ervilia being obtusely triangular. See also:Sea-lentil is a name sometimes applied to the See also:gulfweed Sargassum vulgare.

End of Article: LENTIL

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