By Porter Lang
Dry lentils are the most forgiving thing in a store cupboard. They are also easy to buy badly. Here is what the sources say about one protected lentil, and how to use that when reading a pack.
Start with the label
The lentil of Castelluccio di Norcia carries IGP status, a protected geographical indication, according to the Umbria tourism board. What the sources do not give us is the year of the registration or the wording of the specification, so we do not state either. Our reading: if a bag claims the name, look for the IGP mark and the producer’s details, and treat a place name on its own as decoration.
Where it grows
The Umbria tourism board puts the growing area at about 20 square kilometres of karst plains at Castelluccio di Norcia, inside the Monti Sibillini National Park, at about 1,500 metres.
Gambero Rosso, an Italian food magazine, adds that the plain is ringed by mountains over 2,000 metres. Visit Italy, the national promotional site, names Monte Vettore as the highest peak at 2,467 metres and says the massif has more than 20 peaks over 2,000 metres. The national park spans Umbria and the Marche, according to the same page.
Dates on the field
The Umbria tourism board gives a short calendar. Sowing is no later than mid-May, after spring ploughing and harrowing. Harvest can start as early as August. The Umbrian page also says the plain flowers between late May and July.
Visit Italy says the bloom runs from late May to mid-July, peaking between late June and mid-July, and names red poppies, blue cornflowers and wild yellow mustard. Gambero Rosso places the lentil bloom itself at the end of June and early July. Those are close, though not identical, and we have not merged them.
Our reading: a crop sown in May and cut from August is in the bag well before winter, which is why the autumn shelf is a good time to look for it.
What the lentil is like
The Umbria tourism board describes small, flattened legumes with a thin, tender skin, so they cook in about twenty minutes without soaking. Gambero Rosso says the same about cooking time and calls the grains round and flattened with a very thin skin. No treatment is needed for storage, says the Umbrian page.
Side by side: how old is the crop?
- The Umbria tourism board says seeds of this crop have been found in Neolithic tombs dating to 3000 BC.
- Visit Italy says the IGP lentil has been grown since Roman times.
These are not the same claim, and neither page names a dig or a museum. We repeat both as the sources give them, and no more.
If you go
Gambero Rosso says the drive from Norcia takes about 30 minutes and that public transport is limited. Access on the busiest flowering weekends is arranged year by year, so look for the current visitor notice before you plan.
Dates in order
- 3000 BC: Neolithic tomb seeds, according to the Umbria tourism board.
- Roman times: cultivation, according to Visit Italy.
- Mid-May: sowing deadline, according to the Umbria tourism board.
- Late May to mid-July: flowering, according to Visit Italy; late May to July, according to the Umbria tourism board.
- August onward: harvest can begin, according to the Umbria tourism board.
Questions a buyer would ask
Do they need soaking? The Umbria tourism board says no. How long do they keep? The same page says no storage treatment is needed. It does not give a shelf life, so we do not either. Is the lentil only grown on the plain? The sources describe the plain and the surrounding area, and none gives the exact boundary of the IGP zone.
What kind of sources these are
The Umbria tourism board (regional tourism site), Gambero Rosso (food magazine) and Visit Italy (national promotion site). No consortium or regulator page was read.
What we left out
Recipes, nutrition claims, prices, and anything about individual farms.
Quick answers
Do Castelluccio lentils need soaking? No, according to the Umbria tourism board; the thin skin means they cook in about twenty minutes.
When do the Castelluccio lentils flower? Between late May and mid-July, according to Visit Italy, with the lentil bloom at the end of June and early July, says Gambero Rosso.
How high is the plain? About 1,500 metres, says the Umbria tourism board.
Related on this site: cinque-terre-liguria-terraces-dry-stone, marrone-del-mugello-igp-chestnut-harvest, calangianus-cork-sardinia-museum
Roam first. Shop later.