What are these little seeds contaminating my lentils?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

MichiganFoodLover

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 25, 2025
Messages
4
Location
Michigan
I was cooking some green lentils, and noticed some dark spots mixed in with the lentils while cooking. They never got soft despite considerable cooking, and appeared to be seeds.

I had an unopened bag of lentils of the same brand purchased at the same time, and picked out (photo) from the 1 lb. bag. The bag indicated that trace wheat may contaminate the lentils. The seeds measure about 1/16".

Is this, in fact, wheat??

See photos.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20250125_013629789_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20250125_013629789_HDR.jpg
    157.5 KB · Views: 24
  • IMG_20250125_013742402.jpg
    IMG_20250125_013742402.jpg
    118 KB · Views: 24
I can't say for sure, but to me, they look like buckwheat. They don't really look like wheat grains to me. If they are buckwheat, they are not closely related to wheat. It's not even a cereal grain. But, it does get used in similar ways to grains. Here's a picture of buckwheat seeds from the article about buckwheat on Wikipedia:

800px-Fagopyrum_%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B0.jpg



Edited to add that I reread your post. I had somehow missed the part about the size. I seem to remember buckwheat being a bit bigger than 1/16 of an inch, closer to 1/8 of an inch. But, that's just from me remembering the seeds. I don't think I ever measured them, so just an estimate from memory.
 
Last edited:
I bet you're right! The pyramidal, angular shape is the same.

And I wouldn't be surprised if buckwheat had a range of sizes. Google says 4-5 mm which is slightly larger than these but in the range.

Thanks!
 
That pyramidal shape is quite distinctive, eh?
Yes, very distinctive appearance of the seed.

Turns out there are ~125 species of buckwheat plants so it's not surprising that there is variation in the seed size. Apparently there are even recently introduced varieties, which suggests either new selectively bred or genetically modified varieties.

It seems that what I found are 'common' buckwheat, used to make flour and pancake mix, in contrast to the larger seeds, used to make groat or noodles.


 
I have only seen the ones for making groats. I have also used the flour. I really like it for crepes and pancakes. I find it really doesn't want to make lumps in your batter.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom