Draft:Lingot bean

The lingot bean (literally meaning “ingot”) is a variety of (white) haricot bean from France.

It is a dry bean, white to off-white in colour, nearly straight, almost cylindrical, and often flattened at one end. Its length is approximately 13–16 mm.

There are a number of kinds of lingot bean, typically named after the region they are grown in. Some popular kinds are:
 * the “lingot du Nord”, grown in the Lys Plain (in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments, Hauts-de-France) and having a protected geographical indication (PGI)
 * the “lingot de Castelnaudary”, grown in the Castelnaudary region (in the Aude department, Midi-Pyrénées) and also having a protected geographical indication (PGI) — and which is used as an ingredient in cassoulet, a kind of peasant stew coming from that region
 * the “lingot ariégeois”, grown in the Ariège department, Midi-Pyrénées

These lingot beans are similar in appearance to other haricot beans (“haricots blancs”), and in French shops, may be sold simply as “haricots blancs”. (In French, the word “haricot” is a much more general word and does not have quite the same meaning as in English. It basically translates to the English word “bean”. Therefore it includes haricot beans (“haricots blancs”), but also for example kidney beans — which are known in French as “haricots rouges”.)