Where do I find French green lentils?

[Individual]

I found a recipe that calls for them. However, I find only green lentils at Trader Joe's and Market Basket.

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Trader Joe's
1427 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

[mvi]

I just got some this evening at Christina's on Cambridge Street near Inman Square. Loaded up on lots of spices, too, of course.

[stomachofsteel]

Russo's sells local French green lentils from Baer's Best in So. Hamilton.

[paulj]

What sort of recipe? While I like du Puy lentils, I wonder whether they are essential. TJ's does have little black (beluga) lentils (precooked), which may work in some recipes (especially salad like ones).

[StriperGuy]

Pre-cooked lentils ick.

[StriperGuy]

Or Sophia's in Belmont for super cheap at $1.79 a pound. My SO just bought some 2 nights ago when I had an itch to make lentil soup. They also had the foofier branded product for more $, but these were obviously bagged by the store and gorgeous.

(These are the same plump, tiny, French green lentils that Formaggio probably charges a ton for. Some one will probably chime in now saying that unless it's in the box and bought for the price of a decent bottle of burgundy then it ain't worth buying.)

[galleygirl]

And, of course, at Arax Market, also bulk, also cheap....
FWIW, I like these for salads and dishes where the lentils need to hold their shape, but I prefer the more prosaic generic lentils for soup, cuz they get mushier... ;)

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Arax Market
585 Mount Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472

[StriperGuy]

Ahhh, I used my stick blender to puree about 1/3 of my soup so got that effect regardless.

[lergnom]

Whole Foods bulk.

[emannths]

Bulk bins at the Harvest Coop. Good price too, iirc.

If you want DOP du Puy ones, I'd look for them at Formaggio Kitchen and expect to pay a pretty penny.

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Formaggio Kitchen
244 Huron Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138

Harvest Co-op
581 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139

[StriperGuy]

I love Harvest's bulk stuff. Assume "DOP" is some certified region of origin, etc. I'm more familiar with the Spanish version...

[emannths]

Yeah, you can get certified ones from Puy for some ungodly price like $8-10/lb. If you're not into the terroir of you dried legumes, it's probably wise to pass...