Originally Posted by
Aus_Mal
Question for regular lentil buyers...
You incited me to actually buy some red lentils and try out a couple of recipies!
The pack I bought is in a regular plastic sealed bag like a lot of other similar food items.
However, when I got home, I noticed it has 2 very small needle like pricks through the plastic on the back of the pack. They look like they've been made as part of the packaging process rather than later (due to their symmetry and equal spacing)
A couple of websites I've visited suggest that this could be to expel air from the packaging process, yet I don't see similar when I buy (for example) popping corn kernels in the same type of packaging.
I didn't get a chance to check if other packs are the same, and won't for a few days, so I'm iffy as to whether the lentils are ok. Any opinions? Is this normal for packaging lentils? How would the lentils be affected if the holes aren't part of the regular packing process?
I feel like the packaging is not always airtight, so I think I'd be inclined not to worry, if nothing else, because it seems like it it would be hard to taint lentils -- they are too hard to be absorbent without effort and you would boil them in the cooking process. I'd use them.