Introduction to Brown Pardina Lentils

Written by Leslie O’Neil

We’re trying something new in our harvest boxes for the week of January 16, 2023! Because winter produce can seem repetitive with storage crops, we try to bring a selection of dark leafy greens from the Willamette Valley and apples, pears, and citrus from Washington and California to help keep our selections fresh, interesting, and nutritionally well-rounded through the winter months. Now that we’re in the depths of the cold season though, we know everyone is wanting a bit of a change…

So, I give you our first ever pantry staple offering: Brown Pardina Lentils grown, cleaned, and dried just outside Eugene, Oregon from our friends and partners at Camas Country Mill.

{image from Camas Country Mill}

I chose lentils not only because they’re grown by a regional producer we trust, like, and already partner with but also because they’re still a wonderful example of our regional produce system! Our farmers truly are doing great things and we want to show off how you can keep making gorgeous and tasty food when it’s windy, rainy, snowy, and icy outside without having to pick up foods from 1000+ miles away.

Nutrition:

Brown lentils, and all other lentils (Lens esculenta or Lens culinaris) are high in protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, folate, vitamin B6, and niacin -- they're basically a little powerhouse of nutrition. 

Eating lentils has been shown to reduce and stabilize blood sugar levels, reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (good) cholesterol which all helps to lower high blood pressure and keeps your heart healthy. Even better news is that they don’t lose much, if any, of their nutrition after cooking! And that combo of fiber and protein helps keep you feeling full for longer so you might find yourself snacking just a bit less.

I know we’re jumping the gun a bit by bringing these to you in mid-January but in light of the upcoming National Heart Healthy Month in February, we want to give you plenty of ideas on how to incorporate lentils into your weekly meals. So, we’ll be posting a series of shorter recipes both from staff and from sources we like from around the web to promote all the wonderful uses of these fantastic legumes. I hope you enjoy it!

Cooking:

Lentils lend themselves well to soups, salads both warm and cold, pasta sauces, you can turn them into burgers or meatballs, they’re delicious as dals (check out that beautiful looking dal posted in our newsletter, the garlic brown lentil dal from Little Spice Jar), curries, and added to baked goods.

One delicious looking soup specific to the brown pardina lentil is the Savory Spanish Pardina Lentil Soup with Country Croutons from Woodland Foods. This creamy soup calls for chicken broth but you can easily substitute veggie stock or a mix of water and white wine to keep it vegan.

{Image of creamy Spanish pardina lentil soup from Woodland Foods}

We’ll be posting staff recipes for numerous lentil dishes through the rest of the next two weeks. We’ll also, of course, be incorporating other items from this week’s Harvest Box to help y’all plan a full meal just from your weekly boxes without the need to stop at the store. 

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Sources (in no particular order):

1. National Library of Medicine

2. Healthline - https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/lentils#antinutrients

3. Woodland Foods - https://woodlandfoods.com/products/brown-lentils

4. Science Direct - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/lens-culinaris

5. USDA food data central

6. Camas Country Mill