Northwest Red Lentils Headed For Sri Lanka

Red lentils grown on the Palouse soon may find a place in the grocery stores of Sri Lanka, the island nation southeast of India.

A Sri Lankan trade team visiting Moscow recently purchased 100 metric tons of the large-seeded lentils for a trial run back home, where 18 million people live.

“We gave them a sample of our red lentils and they took it to their hotel rooms and cooked them up,” said Tim McGreevy, president and chief executive officer of the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council.

Red lentils are the most widely consumed lentil in the world, and are popular in India, the Middle East and southern Asia.

Small red lentils, which are 3.5 to 5 millimeters in diameter, are the most common crop. But McGreevy said the trade team was interested in Palouse large-seeded red lentils, ranging from 6 to 7 millimeters in diameter.

These lentils are more expensive, he said, but have more consistent quality than small red lentils. , DataTimes