Lentils originated in the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, in the area stretching from southern Turkey through Syria and into the Jordan Valley. They were among the very first plants humans ever domesticated, cultivated alongside wheat and barley roughly 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Today, lentils are grown across dozens of countries, but Canada and India dominate global production.
Ancient Origins in the Fertile Crescent
Archaeological evidence places the earliest cultivation of wild lentils at sites in Syria and the Jordan Valley around 11,000 years ago, during a period before humans had even developed pottery. At sites like Jerf el Ahmar in Syria and Netiv HaGdud in the Jordan Valley, researchers have found evidence of “pre-domestication cultivation,” meaning people were intentionally growing wild lentils before the plants had fully adapted to farming.
The wild ancestor of all cultivated lentils is a subspecies called Lens culinaris subsp. orientalis, and all of its wild relatives overlap in a region covering southeastern Turkey, Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Domestication didn’t happen in a single moment. It was a slow, incremental process, likely taking place across the southern part of Southwest Asia over centuries. The most intense early use of wild lentils occurred in two clusters: southern Turkey and Syria in one zone, and the Israel/Jordan area in another. From there, lentils that were already partially domesticated spread outward to other parts of the region and eventually across the ancient world.
What the Lentil Plant Looks Like
Lentils belong to the legume family, the same group as beans, peas, and chickpeas. The plants are slender, semi-upright annuals that grow between 12 and 30 inches tall. Their leaves are feather-shaped, with up to 14 small leaflets along each stem, and some leaves end in a curling tendril that helps the plant grab onto nearby supports. The seed pods are flat and smooth, only about half to three-quarters of an inch long, and each pod holds just one or two seeds. Those seeds are the lentils you find in the grocery store.
Where Lentils Are Grown Today
Canada is the world’s largest lentil exporter by a wide margin. The province of Saskatchewan, with its dry climate and vast farmland, produces the bulk of Canada’s crop. India is both a major producer and the world’s largest consumer of lentils, regularly importing huge quantities to meet domestic demand. In the 2023/24 marketing year, 41 percent of U.S. lentil exports went to Canada (for processing and re-export), while India and Mexico were the second and third largest destinations.
The United States grows most of its lentils in the Palouse region of eastern Washington and northern Idaho, along with parts of Montana and the Dakotas. Turkey, Australia, and Nepal are also significant producers. The crop thrives in semi-arid regions with cool growing seasons, which is why it does well in the northern Great Plains and the Canadian prairies.
How Lentils Are Harvested
Lentil plants are ready for harvest when they turn golden yellow and the seeds have dried down to about 30 percent moisture. Timing matters because waiting too long causes the pods to shatter and scatter seeds on the ground. In many parts of the world, particularly across West Asia and North Africa, lentils are still pulled from the soil by hand, then piled in the field to finish drying. Threshing (separating the seeds from the pods) is done with animal-drawn equipment, stationary threshers, or combine harvesters depending on the scale of the operation.
In large-scale farming operations like those in Canada and the United States, the entire process is mechanized. Combines cut the plants close to the ground and thresh the seeds in a single pass. Because lentil plants grow low and their pods sit near the soil, mechanical harvesting requires careful calibration. Cutting too high leaves pods behind, while cutting too low picks up rocks and dirt. Experimental harvesters have been designed to cut at around 59 millimeters (about 2.3 inches) above the ground to balance these concerns.
Common Lentil Varieties and Their Differences
The lentils you see at the store fall into a handful of common types, and they differ in size, color, cooking time, and how well they hold their shape.
- Brown lentils are the most widely available variety. They cook in about 20 to 30 minutes and soften enough to break down in soups and stews.
- Green lentils (including French green or Puy lentils) hold their shape better after cooking, making them a good choice for salads. They take slightly longer to cook than brown varieties.
- Red and yellow lentils are split and hulled before sale, which is why they cook faster, often in 15 to 20 minutes. They dissolve into a creamy texture, which is why they’re the base of South Asian dal.
- Black (Beluga) lentils are notably small, with a 1,000-seed weight of only about 24 grams compared to roughly 60 grams for larger Italian black landraces. They cook in 25 to 27 minutes without soaking and hold their shape well, with a slightly earthy, rich flavor. Their name comes from their resemblance to beluga caviar.
Regional landraces (locally adapted varieties) exist across the Mediterranean, South Asia, and Ethiopia, each shaped by centuries of selection for local soils and climates. Italy alone has several distinct black and brown landraces with different seed sizes, coat thicknesses, and nutritional profiles. This diversity traces back to lentils’ long history of spreading from the Fertile Crescent along ancient trade routes, adapting to new environments at each stop.
Nutritional Basics
Lentils are one of the most protein-dense plant foods available, delivering roughly 18 grams of protein per cooked cup along with substantial fiber, iron, and folate. As legumes, they also fix nitrogen in the soil through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in their roots, which means they actually improve soil fertility for whatever crop is planted after them. This made them a natural fit for early agriculture and explains why they’ve remained a staple crop for millennia.
One thing worth knowing: cooking lentils reduces their antioxidant content significantly. Research on black lentils found that soaking and cooking can destroy roughly 75 to 83 percent of the phenolic compounds in the seeds. This is true across varieties. Lentils are still nutritionally dense after cooking, but the raw-seed antioxidant numbers you sometimes see cited overstate what you actually absorb from a bowl of soup.