The Simple Mistake That Makes Eating Lentils A Painful Experience

Whether you're on a fairly strict grocery budget, adding Meatless Mondays to your meal-planning schedule, or looking for creative, tasty ways to pack in the protein, lentils fit the bill. These tiny, disc-shaped pulses are powerhouses of nutrition, delivering a whopping 12 grams of protein in every half cup. They're also rich in folate, potassium, iron, and a host of other important vitamins — and they're pretty tasty to boot.

Though they can sometimes be overwhelmingly earthy, lentils are fantastic in soups and stews because they easily soak up flavors from accompanying seasonings. However, it's vital to process them properly before getting busy making daal at home or a zesty lentil topping that's perfect on baked potatoes. Bags of dried lentils often contain pebbles or bits of shell that could result in an emergency trip to the dentist if you chomp down on them. This is due to lentils' small size combined with the way they're harvested. Farmers' machines do a pretty good job of sifting out large stones, and big clumps of dirt, but anything lentil-sized may end up packed in with your pulses.

Fortunately, avoiding a toothache is as simple as giving your dried lentils a good rinse, and sifting through them to find any debris that made it into the bag. You can, of course, avoid this issue entirely by using canned lentils (which are just as good as fresh), but the canned varieties are a bit more expensive. If you're pinching pennies, spending a little extra time picking over your pulses may be worthwhile.

Before adding your lentils to any recipe, spread them out onto a clean plate or tea towel (in a single layer, if possible), and pick through them for small rocks and sharp shell pieces. Since most lentils are little round discs, looking for irregular shapes should help you spot any debris. Once you've removed any suspicious pieces, pile the lentils into a colander and rinse them well under cool water.

This rinsing process helps remove any dust still clinging to the lentils after harvest. It also helps dissolve small clods of dirt you may have missed. Once the water runs clear, spread them out for a second pick-over. Though this process is a little tedious, it's genuinely the best way to make sure your lentils are rock-free, especially since they don't float. That means adding them to a bowl of water in the hopes of quickly separating the stones from the lentils won't work.

Once your lentils are thoroughly picked over, it's safe to soak them or add them to your recipe. There's some debate about whether soaking lentils is strictly necessary, and the answer is that it also depends on what kind of lentils you're using. Hard green lentils may benefit from a soaking to help them cook faster, while softer red or yellow lentils may get mushy if you soak them. Lighter-colored lentils also make it easier to spot debris, so they may be a great place to start if you're unfamiliar with the process.