Lentils

poohbearfan3, Mar 26, 1:25am
Can anyone please tell me approximately how long it takes to boil lentils to get them soft but not mushy? Oh and I'm talking about lentils from a packet, not a can.
I boiled and boiled them for what seemed forever last night, and even then they weren't as soft as they could have been!

elliehen, Mar 26, 3:09am
From another thread- for poohbearfan3

tiogapass, Mar 26, 9:16am
Cooking time varies depending on the type of lentil.

buzzy110, Mar 26, 9:38am
Or you could have just bought heat treated lentils. Sadly, no amount of cooking will make heat treated legumes edible. Quite frankly, they shouldn't be allowed to sell them because they are just a waste of money. Suggest you go to an organic shop to get your legumes. They don't, or rather shouldn't, sell heat treated legumes.

Supermarkets don't really care one way or t'other. If people keep buying them they'll keep selling them. May I suggest you take them back and ask for a refund. If everyone did that they'd make an effort to get legumes that were more natural.

buzzy110, Dec 7, 7:08am
I have a relative who is vego (well sort of) so I go to the effort of buying a very small quantity of whatever bean I am using in whatever dish I am making, a week ahead. I then soak and cook. This way I know whether the beans I buy will actually cook up rather than having a disaster on my hands when I have to cook for him.

Edited to say that I haven't had a failure yet from the Health Food shops I buy from.